Setting the Foundation

Your values are the foundation for every single thing that you do.

But sometimes, we think we have to leave those values at the door when we go to work, whether in our own businesses or as team members for others. Your values come with you wherever you go, and it’s not only possible, but important to build your values into your business and brand.

Erica and India discuss rethinking how your values show up in your business, getting explicit about them, and why being clear on your values helps you build lasting relationships with your team, your clients, and your audience.

Listen on your favorite podcast player or keep reading to learn:

• Why it’s important to understand how your personal values show up in other areas of your life

• Building the foundations of company values and brand values

• How using psychographics allows your audience to evolve with you and build real relationships with your business and your brand

Values and Beliefs

On the Pause on the Play® podcast, India Jackson (she/her) says that traditionally people may associate values with moral or religious beliefs.

But she says, “I want to reconsider that values show up in everything that we do. It’s not just a spirituality type of thing. It’s affected by our growth, our mentors, the culture we’re around or a part of, our faith, our education, our experiences, so much. And you can evolve both values and beliefs to reflect who you are now.”

Erica Courdae (she/her) says that the major difference between values and beliefs is that values are the foundation for what everything that you do, while beliefs are the set of ideas that you hold to be true. 

Beliefs are, “whatever acceptance that you happen to have about something, that it is true, it’s a fact. Or just the fact that it exists and that trust, or that faith, or that confidence, in it, or in a person, in someone, that’s what your beliefs are. And beliefs are malleable.”

Your Values Come with You

India paraphrases a quote from an unknown source that values unite, but beliefs divide. As an example, she says that many people value relationships, but beliefs about how we carry out our relationships can be very different and become a source of disagreement and division.

Erica adds that your personal values come with you wherever you go. You can’t exclude them from the other parts of your life, including work.

India agrees and says that it’s important to be aware of how your personal values influence the development of your company or brand values.

Erica adds that it can be easy to have an understanding of your personal values, but you have to consider how that shows up in your work and company culture.

“That’s the how and why of your brand. It’s the way that a brand operates in tangible and intangible ways and how it is that these particular ways of being and acting achieve outcomes that are rooted in values.”

And India says that company culture can often be implicit, but making it explicit is an opportunity for “laying it out. This is what we’re doing, this is what we want our culture to be, and this is why.”

Erica says making company culture explicit influences hiring practices, team building, and boundaries and expectations for team members and clients. It’s where “values, ethics, and those efforts all combine internally. And the way that that’s reflected in your values…that’s really what company culture is.”

India adds that “company culture, I truly believe, can really enhance a brand or company values in a beautiful way, or be misaligned with it.”

Company Values and Brand Values

Erica notes that there is a difference between company values and brand values, and that it’s important to be able to distinguish the two.

India says that brand values are the “principles that guide and drive every action and decision within a brand,” typically in their more public-facing spheres. That can mean what’s on your website or on social media, and setting expectations for the way that your brand shows up in what you share.

“Those actions are being filtered through your brand values. Your brand values are helping others decide if you’re a good fit and aligned with what they want to invest in.”

Erica says that company values are the more internal side of things. “This is really where those guiding principles that are going to be the gas for every action that you take, every decision that you make; that’s where that’s going to show up.”

Your company values are the “North Star” for accountability within your business, for you and for your team, for how you craft job announcements and your hiring process, for benefits packages, tangible dos and don’ts, etc.

“When you do that, and you have those values, everything else becomes a lot simpler to figure out and a lot less about guessing.”

India says that for both your company values and your brand values, they need to be actionable and sometimes even measurable, so that you can audit whether or not you’re maintaining alignment with that foundation.

She also notes that turnover, whether it’s team members or clients, is expensive, but that having your company and brand values be explicit can actually help you attract and retain those relationships. “They’ve come here because there’s something that has grounded them beyond anything that you can sell or any particular current hiring opportunity that you have. There’s invested in the brand.”

Demographics, Psychographics, and Belonging

Erica shifts the conversation to discuss demographics versus psychographics. 

India defines demographics as quantifiable characteristics used to describe or explain a subset of culture, community, or society. Demographics can be useful for things like running online ads where you need create a target audience, but they’re not helpful when you’re trying to actually understand your clients or customers and their motivations.

“Somebody’s age, somebody’s race, ethnicity, gender, religion, marital status, income, education, and so on, does not necessarily tell you who they are inside, what they value, or what matters to them.”

Relying on demographics can easily lead to stereotyping and “can feel like racial profiling.”

Erica says that it “absolutely feels like racial profiling,” and often is based on racist assumptions. 

“It is putting you in a position to leave behind individuals that actually are a great fit for you and your brand because they don’t fall into a demographic.”

India adds that this is why ideal client profiles or avatars don’t work, because they’re based on racist practices that rely strictly on demographic data.

On the other hand, Erica says that psychographics are a qualitative way of being able to describe who a person is based on their behaviors, actions, and choices. 

“That allows you to take that data and combine it with your brand values, and then now you have a foundation to actually attract these types of people, and the people that are actually the best fit for you.”

And psychographics allow your business to evolve but still connect with those clients because the relationship is based on shared values, not just on what products or services you’re offering at the time.

India adds that psychographics can inform so many decisions within your business, even down to your visual branding and marketing. 

“It’s also about being able to allow space for people to feel comfortable, included, and like this is really where they belong.”

Erica agrees and adds, “That’s where being able to understand what true belonging is really does come into play, because when you allow people to show up as they are and to meet you existing as they are, that is where belonging is truly fostered.”

Ready to dive deeper?

Take a pause with your team to consider how your values can be infused into your work and company culture with the Implicit to Explicit Masterclass.

Get clarity on what your values are, why they matter, and how you can move forward integrating them into your work. 

Learn more about the Masterclass and how to sign up at pauseontheplay.com/explicit