S2 E6: How to Align with Your Core Values and Make Strategic Business Decisions

In this episode, we discuss a key topic that affects every entrepreneur – knowing when you're in alignment and how to recognize when it’s time to pivot in your business.

Are you facing analysis paralysis when opportunities arise? Are you wondering how to stay true to your core values while making big decisions? Join Kim as she breaks down the thought process behind staying aligned with your core values, ensuring consistency between your beliefs and actions, and evaluating alignment with your long-term vision.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How to identify your core values and use them as a guide in both business and personal life
• The importance of surrounding yourself with people who share similar values
• How to stay aligned with your mission, even during times of major transition
• Tips for navigating limiting beliefs and maintaining congruency between values and actions

Grab a pen and paper for this powerful episode filled with actionable steps to help you achieve clarity, make informed decisions, and ensure alignment in all areas of your life and business.

✨ Key Takeaways:

• Clarify your "why" to guide business decisions
• Build a company culture based on shared core values
• Align your values with your long-term vision for sustainable growth

If this resonates with you, be sure to like, subscribe, and leave a comment! Let’s grow together!

Grab the show notes: https://coachchefkim.com/core-values/
Core Values Worksheet: https://coachchefkim.com/corevaluesguide

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Transcript

  Welcome back to another episode of the positive voice podcast. I am your host. I am coach chef Kim, and I want to thank you so much for joining me today. Um,  something that I realized was coming up, um, in coaching sessions was how to know when you are in and out of alignment and how do you know when it's time to make a pivot in your business?

How do you know when, uh, an opportunity  Is like a squirrel syndrome where you're just kind of running all over the place, or how do you know when an opportunity presents itself is something that you should be doing?  And so i've given this a lot of thought particularly because i'm in a season of transition um With closing one leg of my business and Really going all in on a different one And so I wanted to kind of explain  What that thought process looks like?

um And how you use your core values to guide alignment. So,  or values is not listed in the dictionary per se, the word value is. So, let me give you the definition of it. So that this makes a little sense. And you can track with me value as a verb means to consider or rate highly. For  the Harvard Business Review.

Your core values are the deeply ingrained principles that guide all of a company's actions. They serve as its cultural cornerstones.  All right. So  we're going to break this down and this is definitely a pen and paper podcast episode. So if you're listening to this in the car or if you're watching me on YouTube, um, or if you don't really have an opportunity to grab pen and paper, make sure you save this and come back to it because there will definitely be a moment for pen and paper. 

So,  the way we use this information to help drive our business forward, or to help guide us when we are confused about something in our business and not suffer from analysis paralysis is number 1. you need to clarify your why  knowing your why serves as a function for all of the decisions, ensuring that they align with your personal and professional mission. 

The clarity that you're going to get around this is going to help keep you guided, um, especially when you're faced with difficult decisions. So what does that look like? So you need to know what your core values are. Um, as the business owner, your personal core values and your business core values should align. 

So there are some things that are important to me. So a part of my core value system is honesty,  transparency,  um, joy.  Joy is a core value for me. If what I'm doing does not bring me joy, then it is out of alignment.  Um,  let's see clarity. Uh,  there's,  excuse me.  There are multiple things that I can pull from that guide both my personal and professional life and the 2 should be intertwined, particularly when you're the leader of the company.

What are the things I want to speak to is this. 

When you were building your core values out for yourself,  these are also the same people you're going to want to surround yourself with within your business. So at the whole point of us having these businesses and growing them, um, when you move into the point of needing to hire people, these are values you will be looking for in them. 

Something that I did not do.  When I first began expanding my business was one, even know what my core values were. And then two, I definitely wasn't looking for core values out of the people I was bringing on board. What I was looking for was people who could get the job done. And those are two different people.

So the people who have the core values that I have, we are in direct and full alignment when we move from project to project,  they understand that timeliness. Is a core value for me. They understand that, um, I don't do well with excuses. And so if you know you have a deadline, then you need to adapt and overcome and adjust in order to meet that deadline.

And if you see that you're not going to hit the deadline, the last thing I need you to do is wait until the last minute to tell me you're not going to hit it. Why? Because that goes back down to transparency and honesty.  The other piece of that is when I use transparency, honesty, and timeliness as core values, um, when you wait till the last minute, that is 100 percent out of alignment with me as a person and my business, right?

Like, don't treat my business as though it's an afterthought. Don't treat me as an afterthought. Don't treat yourself. As an afterthought, and so I have these core values now that will guide the people who I allow into my company,  establishing this nail  prior to  a very large expansion that I foresee happening in the next 2 to 5 years  allows me to build a company culture.

That I'm proud of, it allows me to build a company culture that everyone in the company knows who to look for that everyone in the company, um, uses the same values to guide, not just their work life, but their personal life. That means that we're not always waiting for somebody because they're always late.

It means that we're not compensating, knowing that someone isn't going to do their part. Right? It means that we can push the mission forward. And I don't think it's too much to ask when you intentionally surround yourself by people  who value  timeliness, who value a high work ethic and who value making sure they're getting things done. 

Number two,  consistency between values and action. So there is a need for congruency between what you believe and what you do.  Um, as a coach, I often tell people that I want to allow them to borrow my belief.  Many times when people want to work with me, um, whether it's on a one on one basis or if they want to join group coaching, it is because there's something in me that lights a fire in them  and they want me to help them bring that to fruition. 

I understand that as a part of who I am as a person, I understand that this is something that I do. Right? Like, it's literally in my human design. I am a fire starter. And so  I, as the visionary can see things in other people. And I tap into that for them, and it sets a fire in them to get the things done.

So,  um, the consistency between your values and your actions is what do you believe? And what do you do? A lot of times I can see  where people want to go, but their belief system doesn't add up to it.  The way that the belief system won't add up to it is limiting beliefs. And limiting beliefs are quite literally beliefs that you have about yourself, about circumstances, about the world that limit your view on what you can accomplish. 

Very simply.  So if  you have a desire to become a millionaire, but you have a limiting belief that people with money are evil,  or people with money are greedy,  Or people with money are mean  your limited worldview  is in direct competition with your desire.  If you want to be a millionaire, you then become a person with a lot of money.

And if your thoughts are that,  well, people with a lot of money are evil, then that means you're evil, which means that you won't do the things you need to do to make money. My view of people with a lot of money is that. They have opportunities to support their political  values. They have an opportunity to give to charities.

They are philanthropists. They have access to capital that will help an entrepreneur. In their time of need, they can be a venture capitalist. They can write books and they can produce things and they can support themselves when it comes down to  all the various things that they're doing in their life. 

And when you look at the view of money from that perspective, instead of looking at money as all people who have it are evil. That is not true. All people with money are not evil.  That's not true. There are people with money who are not evil. Right? And so when we make this general thought, a belief that all people with money are evil, then that means you're never going to have the money.

You're never going to have it because you don't want to be an evil person. You don't want to be considered that right. And so what I challenge you to do is to really think about those limiting beliefs as they come up and ask yourself the question. Is this ultimately true in that one? It is not. So what I like to do is I need you to take on my belief until you can form your own.

And so my belief is that if you had more money, not only could you pay all of your bills.  But you have more than enough left over to be 100 percent debt free. You have more than enough money left over to take a trip on a whim. You have more than enough money left over that if your niece, your nephew, your kid, your best friend's child wanted to do an extracurricular activity, you could be the one who pay for it.

Right? They are a good option. Things that you can do with money because money is just a tool. Money is not good or evil. It's neutral. The people who are doing things with it, they take on that particular characteristic, but not the money. The money is just a tool for you to live a better life. Right? And so I like to give people my beliefs as they begin to.

Settle on what is the belief that they have for themselves.  Another piece of this is entrepreneurs often face choices that can tempt them to stray from their values. Um, again, money is evil, right? Money is neutral, but if you are around people with a lot of money and these people are doing things that  are outside of your moral compass, these things are outside of your core values for yourself, then you may be tempted. 

To stray from who you are and do these other things, which means you are now what out of alignment. So, the way I like to look at this is establishing clear core values also ensures that your business decisions reflects your integrity,  maintain trust with your clients and foster a positive work culture.

That is what is important. Whenever you are thinking about, I want to expand. I want to do this. I want to do that. Go back to the list of core values and ask yourself, does this align?  If someone were to come and offer me  10, 000 to  buy out a piece of my business, Would I allow that? I would not. Here's why.

10, 000 sounds like a lot of money if you've never had it.  My understanding of money and then the understanding that I've made 10, 000 in 30 days before, 10, 000 is not a lot of money. For me in my belief system, 10,  000 would not be enough money for me to sell out a part of something that I've been building.

Now, if you come at me with 10 million, maybe we can talk, but for 10, 000, I know that I can make that in a month. And so for me, that is out of alignment, out of alignment with my core values. I believe that women should have the money they need to be wealthy.  Not rich, wealthy, I believe that this is something that should happen.

Right. And so, because of that, I am very clear  on what things will move me and what things will not move me in my business. Um, and then number 3 evaluating alignment with your long term vision. So,  writing out your core values is the 1st step.  The 2nd step is revisit this whenever you have a major transition in your life.

Um, so whether it's your birthday, you guys know that for me, my birthday is New Year's not January 1st. Um, and so that's always a major, major transition for me. The way people move into January 1 is how I move on September 13th into September 14th for my birthday.  I'm going to do all the things I'm going to do the vision board.

I'm going to do  the journaling. I'm going to manifest, you know, speak it out into existence on the things that I, I am calling over myself for the next 12 months. Like, I do all of that on my birthday.  And it's a very simple reason  1, no, 1 actually knows when the calendar starts over. And then 2, my new year starts when I have a birthday, because that is a new year for me.

So, very simply. That's why it's like that.  But when you're thinking about  long term growth, the vision may change, right? Major transitions in life,  birthdays, the death of a loved 1 will absolutely switch how you view life.  One of the things that happened last year, like, you couldn't have paid me to believe that my father dying the week of Thanksgiving in 2023  was on our bingo card that year.

It just wasn't.  And so that transition  changed me, not in a grief stricken way, but for once. I think I took on the  audacity to live.  One of the last things that my father said was this is not living speaking about  his ending state. Right? And he's like, this is not living. Like, I don't, I don't want to go through all these medical things and do all the things.

I don't want to do that. That's not living.  And what I took from that was live your life while you can live it while you have it.  Transition  gave me the opportunity to slow down,  reevaluate what was important to me and what wasn't  based on tomorrow's not promised. Right? And so when I went through that, that was a major transition in my life.

And it still is in a lot of ways, it's still a major transition. And so things that I may have stuck with for six, seven, eight, nine months previously, I don't do it anymore. When it stopped serving me, I stopped giving it my energy.  Very simply, this is not living and I want to live a full life as long as I have it.

And so for me,  if it's not serving me, I'm making a transition,  um, the birth of a child, the birth of someone, it may not even be your child, but that could be something where you're like, I need to look at the alignment of the longterm vision. If you make a mistake in your business,  excuse me.  If something comes up in your business that, and I mean, this is a mistake.

This is not something you intentionally set out to do. It's just an oopsie  something happened.  This is an opportunity for you to learn and grow.  It's an opportunity for you to give yourself grace and to use this as the catalyst for understanding that. Your life is not over  and you may need to adjust how you're moving in order to make sure that these mistakes don't happen again.

And also what is the lesson you needed to learn from this. A lot of times we're looking for the lesson for ourselves, and sometimes that lesson is for other people. Right there, there have been so many moments in coaching where  I'm like, you know, someone starts describing something to me and I think about a moment in time that I've experienced and I'm like, oh, my God, like, I had to go through that for this moment for me to be able to answer this question for me to be able to make space for someone going through this situation.

For me. And then I can recall the things that I did to move myself out of that situation and I can then explain it to someone else that they move through it faster. Right? I don't think that long suffering.  It's meant for us to continuously suffer a long time. I think that if you go through something and it changes you, changes who you are to your core, you have an opportunity to tell that to another person.

One that makes you more qualified than anyone else to speak on it.  And number two, it also gives you, um, the opportunity to have impact.  More than you ever would at any other time. And so your experience will allow you to be the subject matter expert at the moment that can help someone else move through a particular transition in their life a little bit easier a little bit faster.

Right?  And so, um, that is what is going to come when you think about aligning with long term vision. So CCK, what do you do if the vision changes? You adjust.  So, in your adjusting  1 of the things that you have to think about is, is this still an alignment with my core values? Right? We're going to go back to the foundation. 

What are your core values  are those core values still the same? Y'all? I can tell you that. Every time you go through a transition, go revisit that core values. They probably changed. The things that I valued a year ago, I don't value them now.  The things that I valued six months ago, they've probably changed, right?

Because I've grown and I've changed and I've leveled up. And so things for me are different. And so if you go back to creating your core values list, and very simply. You know, it's in the show notes, but you can also literally just Google  core values examples  and scroll. There are so many words scroll the list and,  you know, your top 5 to 10 core values to guide you through this season.

I often state through this season and not through my whole life, because who I am as a person changes. And so, while there are some core values that I hope won't change.  Sometimes they do right, like integrity.  Honesty, transparency, those are new core values. Those are things that I knew about previously, but at previous seasons of my life, they weren't as important as they became when I found myself in situations with people who were being dishonest with people who literally hurt me because they lacked the core value of honesty and integrity. 

And so when I went through that season, those things became very, very important for me.  And so they have been added into  my list of core values, right? And then depending on what the offense is that happened to you will determine how high up on the rank they become. There are some things that have been my core values my whole life and will stay a core value, but then there are other things that I'm gonna speak on. 

And so, because it's only been you.  A year, but then we'll say within the last 5 years that I have really, really honed in on, uh, honesty, transparency, timeliness. Those are the things I can speak on because they are the most important core values for me at this season of my life. And as we move through it, and as I begin to shape my world. 

Shape the people who are around me again, if you can't change the people around you change people around you. Um, as I mold into my world, the people who honor and value those things.  It doesn't have to be as top of mind. It will still be there. It will still be a part of my makeup, but it won't be so focused that here we are.

Right. But it's something that's always there. And so you want to think about that as you move through your long term growth and your long term things.  Perhaps I'll do this in a separate podcast episode where we talk about how to build out your future, how to build out your five year plan, but you got to put a date on it.

Right. And so there may be some things that. The 5 year version of you needs that the current version of you doesn't have. And so you've got to do things. You've got to add new core values in order for you to be able to show up as that other person in 5 years.  And maybe that'll be our next episode  on showing you how do you set that up?

And how do you begin to add or remove some core values from your life? And I'll give you some examples.  But as you think about your core values or a very base level, this is you flooding the foundation of your life. This is you building the foundation of your life. Every decision,  every partnership, every project that you take on should be weighed against whether or not it supports the larger vision and destiny.

That is driven by your core values.  This approach very simply will keep you in alignment with your path, avoiding distractions, missteps, and mistakes. And derailing your progress.  So make sure you guys check down in the show notes, whether you are listening to me, um,  or wherever you listen to your podcast, or if you're watching me on YouTube, because now we are there too.

Uh, I will have this information down in the show notes where you can pull a list of core values and begin working on that and setting that up for yourself. Um, and I will see you guys in our next episode.