This post originally appeared on Jackie Lauer’s LinkedIn page
Most leaders see the benefits of having formal corporate values. With the right investment of time and energy, corporate values lead to greater engagement, improved performance and overall success. When they’re not done properly, you end up with hollow statements that no one takes seriously.
Meaningful core values are part of a company’s DNA. They articulate what an organization stands for, highlighting the expected behavioural norms and skills. They form the core of its culture.
Your company’s core values influence the employees you hire and how your company spends its time and money. When tough decisions are needed, it’s your values that drive them.
Core values: more than “the CEO said so”
Too many times, a company’s values are determined by direction from above. “The CEO says this is what we stand for. Send it out to employees and put it up on the wall.”
Taking that approach can cause more damage than not having any values statements at all. First and foremost your leaders must be committed to upholding your values no matter what.
Being committed may seem like a no brainer, but when a situation comes up that calls for a difficult decision, it can be tempting to forget the values. If one of your values is respect in the workplace and you have a key, brilliant executive who is a well-known tyrant, are you willing to confront the issue and invite them to leave if they refuse to change? If your values include quality in your products, can you turn down a client if they ask you to cut corners for the sake of speed?
Nothing will kill your efforts faster than leaders who do not lead by example. Your values will be rendered meaningless, which creates cynicism, destroys employee engagement and reduces productivity. Bottom line: it’s bad for business.
I am blessed to be a mentor at the Accelerator Centre in Kitchener Waterloo. I am often asked by our start up clients if identifying their core values, or even their culture, matters at such an early stage. The answer I always give is a resounding YES! The reality is that the core values already exist within the founding partners but they are just not conscious of it. Somewhere in their decision to become a company and to partner with each other they were honoring some values that were very important to them. My job as their mentor and facilitator is to help them to consciously articulate their mission, their vision and their core values. Those core values are what they use to hire those first critical employees in their startup and those same values, much like big business, are used to drive behaviours, decisions, and ultimately performance.
Tips for working on your own values
Developing your corporate values takes time. The process should never be rushed. Leave room for reflection to make sure you can actually live with them.
- Pull together members of your organization. Include your leadership and also involve a broad representation of your employees and members of your customer groups and partners.
- Share stories to uncover what’s actually important to your company. Ask questions like why did you want to join the company? Why do you continue to work here? Why do you buy from us? Ask for tangible examples of a recent awesome moment or important decision that demonstrates what’s important to the company. Remember, values guide our behaviour and our decision-making.
- As you go through the stories use a facilitator to listen for action verbs and capture the value statements.
- Once all the values have been captured, identify the common ones and look for those that overlap with similar or same meanings. Get your list down to four or five key values to live by.
- Now it’s time to ensure these really are your core values. Look at important decisions that were made in the past month or quarter. Identify where those values were not really honoured. On the other hand, what values were honoured when those decisions were made? Meticulously review every part of your operations to understand if there is any place in your organization where you cannot honour your values.
- Now that you have your list of four or five core values, ensure your team can describe them in detail. Values must be seen as fundamental, enduring, and actionable. If they are too vague, no one will know how to follow them. The best test is to figure out how to explain them to a new employee, with concrete examples so they know what your values look like in action.
Living those values in the day to day
It will take time and effort to weave your values into everything you do, from your hiring methods to customer service. They will impact performance management, how you reward employees and dismissals. Your values will be at the heart of what you promise customers and how you react to complaints. You’ll witness a definite connection between your internal culture and the brand you present to the world.
When a company is operating according to its values, it’s like a well-oiled machine. There’s a surge of energy. It’ll be reflected in your employees, they’ll feel connected and proud of their work. Productivity can improve dramatically as teams and departments are aligned to the right priorities that support common goals. Conflicts are quickly mitigated and even prevented.
You’ll stand out against organizations that make empty promises. Your customers will see it too, making it easy to feel good about choosing you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jackie Lauer is a Corporate Culture Guru and founder of Heart of Culture, a passionate leadership coach and often invited keynote speaker. She is also the Accelerator Centre’s Leadership and Culture mentor. Known for her no BS approach and sense of humour she’s here to help you transform your company’s culture into a thriving workplace.
As Accelerator Centre CEO, a role he assumed in 2014, he now combines his business experience, technical background and 23 years of teaching, first at Ryerson University then the University of Toronto. He will leverage these skills as he helps further the organization’s vision to develop strong, scalable, globally competitive and potentially disruptive businesses.
Family: He and his wife, Julia, have two children, Lindsay and Kai. The family pet is Penny a petite golden doodle.