This week on the Digital Velocity Podcast, Aaron Burnett of Wheelhouse DMG joins Erik and Tim to discuss building a values-based business that will benefit both your employees and your clients.
Generally, expected behaviors and values in business relationships take on a more defensive tone than those in personal relationships. Aaron says,
“But in business, particularly in larger companies, my experience was that you walk into a professional context and there’s a different set of rules that you are told apply, either explicitly or implicitly. And it is that we have contracts to protect ourselves from one another. You’re my client. I’ve got this SOW that tightly defines what I’m willing to do for you, you’ve got it so you can hold me accountable, and we’re really explicit about what we have to do. We’re protecting ourselves from being taken advantage of, and we’re going to live within these rules, assuming the worst of one another.”
However, we should exercise the same positive standards and values in our business connections as we do in our personal ones. Aaron explains,
“If I’m working with you in a business context, I think I should also be helpful and generous in that business context in the same way that I am in my personal life. I think I should assume that you’re a nice person and a decent person and that if I tell you that the foundation of our relationship is I’m going to look out for your best interests, and I promise to do that, but I’m going to rely on you to look out for my best interests. That’s a much healthier and more productive and more effective way to work.”
When businesses create and foster strong values in a professional setting, rewards will always follow. Aaron says,
“We’ll probably do work that we’re not explicitly paid for, and that’s going to be okay because we’re looking out for your best interests and we’ll rely on you to look out for our best interests. The virtue of that is that we forge very strong partnerships very quickly, and our clients can be sure that they can work with us and call on us without holding their wallets. It’s also that as they ask for help in areas for which we weren’t initially contracted, we get to show off that we’re really good in these other areas, and that’s the best way to expand a relationship.”
Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about how to establish a values-based business for your employees and clients.
About the Guest:
Aaron Burnett is CEO and founder of Wheelhouse Digital Marketing Group, recognized by INC Magazine as one of the best places to work in the United States and by both Seattle Magazine and the Puget Sound Business Journal as one of the best workplaces in Washington State.