At Core Health & Fitness we believe that well defined and practiced company values are the driving force behind a company’s success and make up the core of a positive work culture. A company should be viewed as a living, breathing organism with a distinct personality. That personality should be expressed through their core values. A strong set of core values helps guide a company’s actions both internally and externally, so that the qualities that are most important to the company are reflected in every decision made. At Core Health & Fitness we believe that core values are more than a list posted on a wall. Without a proper culture within a company, a well-executed strategy falls short on its potential value. Culture eats strategy for breakfast any day of the week and in case you are curious, here is what is on our menu:

Play To Win – We compete as a team. We have a bias towards positive action.
We cultivate employees who want to be part of a team; that are passionate about our industry, our products and our success. We value employees who excel in a fast-paced team environment and that want to play to win.

Keep Score – To know how to win, we need to know where we stand.
Do the math, ensuring we are using our time and resources effectively towards a common goal. We believe financial rigor drives our efforts.

Own It – We are accountable, end to end.
We own it from start to finish; we do what we say we are going to do, when we say we are going to do it. We earn the trust of our partners, achieving the right results in the right way. This is the only level of integrity we tolerate.

Change It Up – Plan, and prepare to be nimble.
We are empowered to change it up. Dynamic environments call for dynamic solutions. We will look for “what’s possible”, not settle for “what is”, and keep moving forward.

All In – We act as one team.
We know greatness is not achieved with less than everything we got. As one team, all in together, we strive for breakthrough results and push ourselves to be the best. We are motivated and passionate about our actions and the results.

Find A Way – Do what it takes. Think big for core. No excuses.
We find a way to create results where others cannot; the words “no” and “failure” are not a part of our vocabulary. We get the job done in spite of any obstacles, and our success is defined by the value we deliver, to our people and our customers.

Speak Up – Let’s hear it. Practice respectful, unfiltered dialogue.
We value your input – Speak up. No idea will ever materialize into success if it remains inside someone’s head. All ideas qualify; best idea wins. No silent suffering.

Now that you know where we stand, we’d like to introduce one of the driving forces behind our core values; Tim Hawkins. Tim is the Global Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Core Health & Fitness, joining us with an extensive sales & marketing background and firsthand experience with company culture and its impact on strategy. Read about an experience in Tim’s career with a prior company whose well-executed strategy fell short without an adoption of a company’s core values:

At My Core…..Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast

My mother used to tell me that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Without it, you are assured of a difficult day. I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant until the business world taught me the truth of that statement.

After many years in corporate life I had the opportunity to lead a small company. Going from companies with employee rosters in the 1000’s and 10,000’s, I got my first dose of an 80-person company. Thinking I knew all that was needed to be done to turn this company around, I crammed down a list of Core Values that were worthy to be printed on a mouse pad and started to embark on strategies and objectives, alignment and action items. The first 2 years were nearly impossible. Strategy, Strategy, Strategy. All with dismal results. On occasion, I’d grab a Core Value off the wall print to use as a weapon when I needed it, but other than that, it was business as usual on driving strategies. What could possibly be wrong with my strategies? The results were frustrating to say the least.

It wasn’t until an interview with a prospective executive where he asked me to relay the company’s Core Values and provide an example of where I demonstrated those values with a team member when I first realized all my focus on strategy was useless. I couldn’t easily recall the Core Values and I struggled to tell stories about how I had intentionally used them to the benefit of the company. He helped me realize that the most broken aspect of the company was culture, not our strategy. Any emphasis on strategy was quickly destroyed because of the toxic nature of our culture.

I stood in front of my teammates and began the process of turning the business around by fixing the culture. The first step was to admit my own shortcomings in this area and my lack of recognition of the most important aspect of the business; our culture. And so, began the turn around. As soon as we began to recognize this, own it and work at it, the business results started to follow. Accountability and authenticity became the center of how we modeled the Core Values and created a new, non-toxic culture. The journey was full of twists and challenges but rewarding to everyone involved.

So, my core has changed. I’ve seen first-hand how a company can be transformed. I’ve been a part of bad cultures and great cultures. I know the impact everyone can have on building up culture and tearing them down. I’ve seen how leadership can ignore culture and make horrible decisions that undermine strategic desires. But most important, I’ve enjoyed the sweet taste of Culture and Core Values first, for breakfast, knowing that without them strategic execution is impossible.

Just as athletes need a strong core to be effective, we believe that strong core values are the foundation of any success. We hope through our culture and values, Core Health & Fitness can stand as an example for others and be a positive force for our customers and the industry. It is our goal, we Own It and we are Playing To Win.

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