3 Ways That Determining Your Agency's Core Values Can Bring More Value

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This article isn't like our usual blog posts that cover specific topics surrounding home care, medicaid, and private duty agency Best Practices. 
 
Today's article is covers core values, whaat they are, how they are defined, and why they can often be a boon for home care agencies and most businesses and industries.
 
I wrote an article last month entitled, "What are Core Values and How Can They Help Your Home Care Agency?" that offered a bit of a "Core Values 101.
 
While the titles of that previous article and this one are similar, they do cover different aspects of the discussion.  The "101" article covers some basics, shares data, and offers examples of core values from a few companies.  This blog here will share a bit more on the topic as it pertains to home care agencies.
 
If you haven't read the first article, I suggest you take a look by clicking here.  That all said, let's get to today's topics:
 

What Are Core Values?

A definition I resonate with comes from the National Park Services website of all places.  They define Core Values as:

"The core values of an organization are those values we hold which form the foundation on which we perform work and conduct ourselves."

Core values can mean something else to you and defined differently of course, but again, the above summed it up for me.

As to how taking the time and care to figure out your care values can bring value to your business in a tangible way, here are just a few:

Motivate, Inspire, and Retain Your Team

As most people who run a business know, finding stellar employees, motivating them long-term, and retaining them as part of your team is a difficult and time-consuming task.  Involving your team in building your core values can reinvigorate your team.  Moreover, by sticking to your core values, your team will see that their job and the company they work for is "about" something. 

 

A paycheck will only motivate folks to a point, humans need to work for something more, a mission, a purpose, something bigger than themselves.  Core values can be the start of getting to that point.

Guide Your Business Decisions

While running a business, folks are faced with any number of decisions, some simple, some difficult, some ambiguous, and so on. Regardless of what kinds of decisions folks have to make in business, knowing and operating by your core values can make that process simpler and more defined. 

When faced with a decision, difficult or not, you can start with seeing how each decision matches up with your core values.  They are guiding principles, they are what you stand for, and the can help guide you through the tough choices that every company faces.

Differentiate Your Company in the Marketplace

Both from a branding/consumer-facing perspective and from a hiring perspective, your particular core values can help you stand out in the marketplace. As long as you properly promote what they are and actually "live by them", then prospective clients and employees can understand better what you're about and why they should choose your business. 
 
People want to be involved with companies that inspire them and that shares their outlook and values.  Most products and services have competition that offers basically the same thing, so the more you can connect emotionally with folks, the more your business will stand out.
 
 
What do you think?
 
 
Are core values really that important to a business?  Why or why not? What are your core values?  Why?  What are your thoughts on how best to determine your core values?  Please feel free to contact us directly with your thoughts or share them in the comments section.
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Ankota provides software to improve the delivery of care outside the hospital, focusing on efficiency and care coordination. Ankota's primary focus is on Care Transitions for Readmission avoidance and on management of Private Duty non-medical home care. To learn more, please visit www.ankota.com or contact us.

 

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