Understanding The Difference Between Priorities And Values
There is a lot of talk about family values these days and most people think about many types of businesses that are against their values of religion or adult-themed businesses. These businesses are ones that do not share the same opinion about many things and must be lacking in values. The biggest problem, is there is a lot of confusion between values and priorities and once business owners understand those differences they can begin to make an improved presentation to their customers.
Consider the word win. As an acronym it can stand for what's important now and can be used to describe a priority. Priorities are constantly changing, helping business owners decide what it will take to win the current situation, or put out the most recent fire. People in many businesses as well as in their personal lives juggle their priorities on a regular basis, seldom ending the day achieving everything on their list of things to due because of priority shifts.
Consider you are in your home office and suddenly your internet service shuts down due to a broken cable entering your house. While the jobs you were working on have a deadline that is only three hours away, working on them takes a lower place on your list of priorities. Knowing that unless you repair that cable, even if you do get the aork completed, you can't submit it online. Your priority is now to fix the line and get your internet service back in operation.
Your values, on the other hand, are what describes who you are. They do not change regardless of the current situation and no amount of external influence will change your values. For example, as a writer you find yourself needing a lot of money in a hurry and are offered the chance to make a significant sum writing for a company that is involved in a business that does not meet the standards of your societal values. Despite the promise of extra income, it would force you to compromise your values. The money would certainly help eliminate some of the priorities, but compromising your values would be tantamount to compromising who you are.
Business owners are faced with similar dilemmas on almost a daily basis, struggling with doing what's right for the business, their employees and their customers and making every decisions they make fit into their values. A customer screaming about a lost order certainly may require top priority for a business owner or manager, but turning around and blaming an employee would go against their values of treating their people with respect.
It can be a tightrope walk on adjusting priorities, but there should never be a question about values. Family time should be a value in everyone and when employees need time off for a special family event, priorities of the business may have to change to meet the values of allowing them time with their families. These situations also require some tough decision making as the owner still has to do what is right for the business and its customers, while making sure the employees are allowed to realize their personal values.
There is a lot of talk about family values these days and most people think about many types of businesses that are against their values of religion or adult-themed businesses. These businesses are ones that do not share the same opinion about many things and must be lacking in values. The biggest problem, is there is a lot of confusion between values and priorities and once business owners understand those differences they can begin to make an improved presentation to their customers.
Consider the word win. As an acronym it can stand for what's important now and can be used to describe a priority. Priorities are constantly changing, helping business owners decide what it will take to win the current situation, or put out the most recent fire. People in many businesses as well as in their personal lives juggle their priorities on a regular basis, seldom ending the day achieving everything on their list of things to due because of priority shifts.
Consider you are in your home office and suddenly your internet service shuts down due to a broken cable entering your house. While the jobs you were working on have a deadline that is only three hours away, working on them takes a lower place on your list of priorities. Knowing that unless you repair that cable, even if you do get the aork completed, you can't submit it online. Your priority is now to fix the line and get your internet service back in operation.
Your values, on the other hand, are what describes who you are. They do not change regardless of the current situation and no amount of external influence will change your values. For example, as a writer you find yourself needing a lot of money in a hurry and are offered the chance to make a significant sum writing for a company that is involved in a business that does not meet the standards of your societal values. Despite the promise of extra income, it would force you to compromise your values. The money would certainly help eliminate some of the priorities, but compromising your values would be tantamount to compromising who you are.
Business owners are faced with similar dilemmas on almost a daily basis, struggling with doing what's right for the business, their employees and their customers and making every decisions they make fit into their values. A customer screaming about a lost order certainly may require top priority for a business owner or manager, but turning around and blaming an employee would go against their values of treating their people with respect.
It can be a tightrope walk on adjusting priorities, but there should never be a question about values. Family time should be a value in everyone and when employees need time off for a special family event, priorities of the business may have to change to meet the values of allowing them time with their families. These situations also require some tough decision making as the owner still has to do what is right for the business and its customers, while making sure the employees are allowed to realize their personal values.
Together we shall win,
Adesegun Akitoye
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