Profits aside, what does your company value? If that’s a head-scratching question, it’s time to take stock in what truly drives your organization. Clearly defining your core values will have many positive benefits, including appealing to like-minded customers, helping guide internal decisions, and attracting and maintaining highly engaged employees.
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First, know that establishing your values is different from developing a mission statement. Most mission statements are a jumble of jargon and high-minded promises that hang on a wall but do little else. Values go deeper. They are the guideposts for how you and your employees interact with each other and your customers every day. The best values are “alive,” meaning that they are consciously put into practice by the entire team. For example, the company that selects “diversity” or “dignity” as its values must ensure a high regard for its interactions with others.
So, if you’ve never developed company values, how to begin?
Don’t panic. Just because you haven’t issued company values doesn’t mean that your organization is rudderless. This is an opportunity to clearly define and communicate its principles. Take the effort seriously, knowing that this is work that will be reflected upon for many years in the future.
Start a highly participative process. Values need to be activated throughout the organization, which means every level must participate in their formation. Ask your key executives to define your company’s core values—but also involve middle managers and staff. The first question to ask is, “What values describe this company?” You will get many responses, but after a while, patterns will emerge. If you find that “customer service” is repeated at all levels of the company, that’s a good sign.
Perform a keyword search. Look at speeches delivered by the CEO, company descriptions, agendas from former meetings, company history, and other documents. What words seem to be frequently employed? If your CEO talks about “service to others” on a regular basis, that’s probably a strong value for your organization.
Be visionary. Just because a value doesn’t apply to your current state, it can be applied to the future that your company aspires to attain. Aim high, shooting for the type of organization that will truly make employees proud. Be careful, though. If your initial research finds that your company is anything but team-oriented, it may be difficult to add it as a value. Make sure that it is highly conceivable your company will come to demonstrate a value before making it part of your core precepts.
Think short and effective. Values are something that you put into action, so make sure they are expressed as an activity that employees can say to themselves, “How do I put this into practice every day?” Don’t try for long explanations of values—keep them short, powerful, and memorable. And don’t overload your organization with too many directives. Between four and six core values are plenty.
Apply the test of time. Core values should remain consistent, which means they must stand the test of time. Ask yourself if the values you establish today would work equally as well 10, 50, or even 100 years from now. That’s a long haul, but essential.
The final test. Before committing to a set of values, engage in an honest assessment of whether or not your organization can live up to them. Never claim a value that is completely out of character for your executives or staff. You will be called out by either internal or external publics, which can be extremely painful. Better to select values that are within reach.
Once core values are established, the next step is making sure they are put into action. Tomorrow we’ll review necessary steps for communicating values and committing to them.