The Value of Change

How to find your organization’s value

What will be valued and valuable after the pandemic?

In a volatile environment like this one, every organization is contemplating this question, trying to determine how to stay relevant and valuable in the midst of change.

Values are very influential. Our values motivate our decisions and behaviors, including where we work, what products we buy, and with whom we choose to spend our time.

Even before COVID hit, many organizations were lamenting the loss of their value propositions, which is really another way of saying the market isn’t buying what they’re offering.

But why?

When your organization can pinpoint what members/clients/employees value, it will better understand what switches on the decision to join, buy, or participate.

Here’s what you need to know about values

Values are shared

Values are shaped during childhood and early adolescence and are influenced by family, religion, and culture, but also what is happening in society. This is why generations of people tend to share some of the same values — because they have shared social experiences.

The shared global experience of pandemic will undoubtedly influence the values of today’s youth. Our research shows they place a high value on positivity. They will likely do the same for mental and physical well-being, access to on-demand education and healthcare, and remote work environments, and they will place prominence on those values for the rest of their lives.

Values are consistent

While the pandemic may shift everyone’s values to varying degrees, there’s a key difference between values we are raised with, and values which we adjust to later in life. An example of this is how society responded to the arrival of technology.

If you were born after 1982, you were raised never knowing life without technology. Chances are, you were asking your employer to use virtual work and tech-based platforms long before COVID — as long as 10 or 15 years ago.

But the transition from in-person to virtual wasn’t as comfortable for those born before 1982. It wasn’t central to their established values systems, so the initial response was resistance.

The values we’re raised with are the values we go back to base on every time we feel stressed, anxious, or confused. Those core values are always there, driving behavior.

Values require research

Taking the time to understand what your audience wants, needs, and expects now — as well as where the market is headed in the next several years from now — is key to your organization’s long-term success.

This is not something you can guess. You need to research it.

Far too few organizations take the time to understand their audience and the values represented within — and that’s why the market isn’t buying what they’re offering.

Want to find your organization’s value? Start by valuing the opinions, insights, and values of your audience.

Therein, lies the answer.

To learn more about how important values are for your association contact Sarah Sladek & Co today!