The Two Things That Can Make or Break a Business (And How to Find Out if You’re Aligned With Your Key Collaborators)

The reality is that not everyone who’ll interact with your organization will be a good fit. Always make sure you’re working with and for the right people.

Values and cultural alignment. 

These two play a part in every single element of your business - from finding new team members to looking for new clients and customers.

If you’re hiring someone, you’ll want them to be aligned with your values and culture and be active participants in your organization.

When you’re looking for new consumers, you want them to be a good fit for how you do things.

Now, when you think about values and culture, it comes down to this:

That’s the way you do things. It’s how people perceive what you do and how you do it.

Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs underestimate the importance of defining and aligning their values and culture inside their business. And they don’t know how to live those values inside the company.

But this is a key element to building momentum and taking your business to the next level.

What do I mean?

Imagine running a high-energy organization. 

Your team shares the same energy, but then you hire someone who’s a real downer.

They’re not going to be a good fit.

The experience won’t be ideal in the long term, and it likely won’t work out. Therefore, you want to make sure you find people who fit in and come together to work collaboratively.

But you can’t do these things without understanding what’s valuable to you, your team, customers, and partners.

So, let’s go over a couple of things that should help you understand your values and find people aligned with them.

Capturing the Key Stakeholders in Your Organization

You need to capture your key stakeholders so you can understand who’s involved in the daily activities and how you can pull them together with your core values.

So, let’s start with the first category of stakeholders.

#1. Your Team Leaders

Start by looking at your team. 

You can probably look at all individual team members if you have a small business. But as a business grows, you might have too many. In that case, you’ll want to identify key leaders or managers.

The goal is to define and create your leadership team.

These individuals should be the ones who really resonate with you and have similar values. Even if it’s just a perception, it should be clear who’s closer to you than anyone else.

You’ll want to bring those individuals in as part of the team as they’ll be best equipped to help you drive your company’s performance.

You have to understand what’s meaningful to them and help them get aligned with those values.

The goal here is to make sure that your leaders share the same example further down the food chain. Because as you pass down your values to them, they’ll do the same to the people working under them.

So, it’s crucial for your team leaders to be in perfect alignment and bring that excitement and energy to their teams.

#2. Your Top Clients

First, let’s define who your top clients are.

For me, I always look at the top 10 people I would work with – the people I would do anything for, especially if they ever decided to leave.

You can have many notable clients, but let’s stick to the top 10 to make things easier.

When you think about top clients, a couple of things will come to mind, such as:

• Working with them is enjoyable and exciting. 
• They’re always on time to show up and deliver what they’re supposed to within your relationship.
• These people are respectful, and they pay on time.

Now, one of our values inside our organization has to do with people. You see, we want good people, clients, and team members. That’s who we resonate with and commit to helping.

Simply put, if you’re not a good human, you’re not on my top 10 list.

I recommend going through your client list and coming up with your own list. Figure out who’s aligned with your values – those will be your ideal clients and the exact type your organization needs to attract.

The more ideal clients you work with, the faster you’ll be able to increase your financial and overall business performance.

#3. Quality Collaborators

When I talk about collaborators, I mean everyone outside your team. They’re partners but not necessarily working within your organization.

So, think about your financial advisors and community partners. 

These are the people or businesses you work with that help you deliver results to your clients. And they can contribute to your organization in various ways.

Now, who are you looking for? Which collaborators can be considered key stakeholders?

Know that the best external collaborators are those who have great relationships with you. They define what you would like to see in a partner when you look at them.

You want collaborators who can help you move forward and value your contribution as well.

An Exercise in Due Diligence

Your clients will always do their due diligence before buying your products or services. They need to know what to expect and if you can provide results before entering into an agreement with you.

So why should you do any less?

Think about all the moving parts inside your business and all the people it takes to move your organization forward – to take it to the next level.

Your team is a huge part of what you’re doing. And your clients and customers are the ones that drive cash flow. Then you have all the external partners that contribute in one way or another, some in a minor capacity and others having a more vital role.

If you want your business to grow, everyone involved has to be working towards the same goal. But only people who understand and are aligned with their values can collaborate efficiently and deliver results.

So, identify your key stakeholders and make sure everyone is who they should be. Otherwise, start making changes. 

Do that and you’ll see your operational and financial performance start to improve.

Join our Vision to Results Facebook Group for Entrepreneurs. Unlock exclusive sneak peek resources to help scale your business. https://www.facebook.com/groups/gauvreaucpa