The Golden Circle 1

The Golden Circle – Finding Your Company’s “Why”

What is The Golden Circle and what does it mean to “find your Company’s Why”? Created by author and inspirational speaker, Simon Sinek, The Golden Circle is a visual model that illustrates Sinek’s theory about the success behind some of the world’s most well-loved business and brands. According to Sinek, the Golden Circle is a guide that can be used to aid in your company’s improvements in corporate culture, leadership, hiring process, product development, as well as marketing and sales.

We at Career Contacts believe that this model highlights some of the most essential elements of running a prosperous business. Because of this, we’ve composed some of our own thoughts about the components of The Golden Circle, finding your business’ “Why”, and how you can use all of this to assist in your company’s search for employees that will share the core values of your organization.

When setting out to start a business, most people begin their journey by asking themselves the basic questions:

What

  • What kind of goods or services will we provide?
  • What will providing this good or service offer our customers/clients?
  • What is the draw – what is going to make people want to buy what we’re selling?

How

  • How are we going to go about creating these goods or services?
  • How will we go about providing them?
  • How will our day-to-day operations work?
  • How will we set our business apart from our competitors?

These questions may seem like the most important questions to ask at the start. After all, how can you run a business without knowing what basic functions it will have?

However, the golden question that many business owners often overlook is the “Why”.

The Why is your organization’s core principles. Instead of focusing on the financial gain aspects of your business, the Why is all about reflecting on what you and your company can add into the world on a grand scale. Finding your Why starts with asking yourself and your team:

  • Why this? – Why are we providing these specific goods and services? What is the big picture or end goal? What is the driving factor behind why we are running this business?
  • Why us? – Why are we the right people for this job?
  • Why should people trust us and be loyal to our brand and our message? – How will we inspire them with our branding and ideas rather than manipulate them into buying our products/services?

These “Why” questions are the foundation of what is going to make your business successful, and in addition to that, they are the questions that are going to act as the motivation for yourself and your team. The answers to these questions are more than just hypothetical thoughts or words on paper. Once the answers to these questions are established, they become a mission statement that you can then use to fuel your organization and build out its place in whatever industry you are now a part of.

If you find yourself grappling with your Why questions and still feel like your answers are unclear, consider reflecting on what motivates you as an individual. Is your goal to help others gain something or achieve a certain objective? Is your aim to be a globally recognizable brand or to make a big impact on your local area? These are the type of principles that will help you establish the drive behind your business and all of its endeavors.

Employees at a table

Where does this all come in when hiring employees and building your team?

At Career Contacts we believe that in order for any organization to thrive, its employees must all have a clear and shared mission, goals, and vision of what it means to be successful within that specific company. A team without a shared “Why” may have individual successes, but the overarching mission/message of the company will be lost on your business’ target audience and ultimately will lead to a drop in the interest and loyalty that customers are willing to invest in your brand.

When searching for new hires for your team, keeping your business’ Why in mind is essential to matching with the right candidates. For example, if your company’s mission is to have a national or global impact but an applicant is hoping to work for a smaller company, it may not be the right fit. Or, on the opposite end, if your business focuses on reaching a local area and a candidate is hoping for an opportunity with global reach, they may not be the right team member for your organization.

Finding your company’s Why not only lays the groundwork for building a strong and unified team and a well-run workplace, most importantly, it solidifies the very reason for why your business exists and why you and your team wake up every morning ready to take on the day.

If you need assistance in finding candidates that are the perfect fit for your business, we are ready to help! Contact us at hiring@careercontacts.ca or call 604-606-1831 for more information!

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