What's Your Promise?

What is the purpose of your business? Why do you exist? There will be many different definitions, reasons and driving factors. To offer a fair exchange of value to be a profitable enterprise. To provide a great service and create and retain raving fans. Whatever drives you and your organisation there is no getting away from expectation.

Your expectation for the business, your team's expectation from being in your team and employed by you and the expectation of your prospects and customers. One area often played lip service to is in relation to the promise you knowingly or unknowingly offer. It's an area which is often tarnished as corporate-speak!

In this article, I aim to offer a moment to pause and to reflect on the promise you and your business make and whether or not you deliver on it. If you're currently struggling to determine what promise you've made then let me ask you 3 questions...

1. What are your values?
2. What is your mission?
3. What is your vision or purpose?

What are your values? Values are the set of principles we agree to adopt and work towards in the organisation. They shape our behaviours and interactions, they will underpin customer service and service/product delivery. A clear set of defined values will suggest a level of expectation within the team, customers and prospects; a promise in relation to how you'll be treated.

So have you a clearly defined set of values which are understood and internalised by your team and are you congruent with them? Are they clearly depicted and evident in all your interactions with your marketplace? Do you use them in marketing and your sales process? Are your prospects and customers educated in them?

If your answer is no to some or all of the questions being posed here then it is highly likely that your values are only turning up on the wall if you have them at all. In either case, you will not be delivering on your promise. At the very basic level, it's likely you do not offer a clearly defined fair exchange of value.

What is your mission? How do you know where you are heading if you don't have a destination? Having a well-written mission statement will offer significant clarity throughout the business for the team and customers. A mission statement can offer the team a guide rail in decision making, will improve engagement and gives confidence in the business direction.

A business without a mission statement could suggest a lack of direction, and not having clarity in what is the desired goal (destination). It may be YOU have clarity and are very clear on the destination, but without it being written and shared with the team how will you enrol and inspire?

Having a mission statement written out offers clarity and alignment on where and what you strive to achieve. Clearly published and constantly reinforced throughout the business and marketplace offers true alignment and a strong sense of belonging. Having a promise which aligns everyone to the journey ahead and how we will get there.

What is the purpose? Why does your business exist? What reason beyond making a profit drives the business? If you're currently unsure then go back in time. I'm sure if you look hard enough you'll recall why you went into business in the first place and what the driving force was. In many respects, you would have inadvertently promised yourself better things, which in turn ignited the flame of desire to jump into business.

So when you look at the business today how has that purpose progressed. Has it developed into a bigger and brighter flame? Now the purpose is a key to motivating and driving a passion within your business. You effectively promise those who affiliate with your purpose a brighter future, be they employees, clients or prospects.

Having a purpose gives meaning, encourages passion, enrols and inspires, all of which go a long way to enrich lives. It sets out clarity on the business's promise land. A significant promise of better things to come. It will create the passion in a team to contribute to the journey and go that extra mile to get there. It will create raving fans and advocates who just want to share the word and encourage others to join the journey and do business with you.

The Power of a Promise

Whilst you may not have previously looked towards values, the mission and purpose as making a promise to your team and the marketplace, think about it for a moment. How many times have you experienced behaviours which aren't aligned with your values and what has been the impact? How many times has the business strayed from its mission and is the purpose merely seen as rhetoric?

Go back and look at your values, mission and purpose and take a moment to look at the promise you make by publishing them. Is it just hyperbole or is there a deeper meaning, is there a promise you have made to your team and marketplace? And what is the impact of not ensuring utter clarity and commitment to that promise both within the business and marketing place?

Steve Gaskell the 'Challenge Coach' is a High-Performance Business Coach who unlocks the high-performance potential in those he coaches. The author of?'Business Shouldn't be this Tough'?is also a keynote speaker with a focus on high-performance outcomes through coaching and also creating extreme ownership within the boardroom. A former Army Officer Steve understands the challenge and interFEARence faced by business owners, directors and executives in leadership and confronts them head-on to focus on unleashing true potential.

If you would like to unlock the potential within your board, leadership, team or yourself just ask. For more information on the topic of this newsletter, you can message Steve via his profile, call on 01392 927997 or email?[email protected].?Look forward to hearing from you.