Core values are an important aspect of creating a strong culture - a culture which influences business success. Core values reflect who you are, who you want to become, and why new employees and customers should choose your organisation.
Values guide the organisation's actions and are the essence of culture. The organisation can grow and change, but values seldom change.
Your values are a manifestation of the personal values of your people. If you don’t like your organisation’s values you should probably move on, because generally, you won’t fit in. If you are on the management team and don’t like your organisation’s values, the only way you can change them is to change staff and replace them with people who have the values you desire.
An organisation’s values only work if they are genuine. Authenticity is one of the most important criteria when uncovering your organisation’s values.
Writing your organisation's values can be done in a one-day workshop. (See Workshop notes)
If you are running the workshop you should allow half a day to collect relevant background information available within the organisation. This forms part of the preparation for the workshop. If you would like help in choosing your values a Culture Firm consultant is available.
Every organisation's culture requires an anchor - something that seldom changes and provides a guiding light for all actions and activities both inside and outside the organisation. This is the role of values.
Values are sometimes called the basis for the "true north" of an organisation, and they form the guiding principles or code of conduct of all employees. Values are often referred to when making tough decisions, when recruiting people – or when letting them go. Values are not influenced by outside forces or competitors, they come from within the organisation.
All the people you employ should have an affinity with the organisation’s values. People who don’t match with the organisation's values won’t fit in with the culture and should probably not be employed.
It is not enough to define your values. You have to live them in the day-to-day operations.
For example, Michael Horn, Chief Executive of the Volkswagen Group of America, testified before Congress about Volkswagen’s use of a software program that served to defeat the regular emissions testing regime. The company's website reads, "Our values: Responsibility and sustainability". If only Volkswagen had lived its values.
Values lead to action. If you can’t act in accordance with the organisation's values then either you may not be right for the organisation, and should consider leaving.
Most employees want to get more than just a salary from their work. They want to enjoy their work and the people they work with, as they get more work satisfaction if they think they are doing something worthwhile. Organisational values are the beginning of creating that feeling for employees.
“If people believe they share values with a company, they will stay loyal to the brand.”
Howard Schulz, CEO of Starbucks
If you want to create deep, meaningful relationships with your employees and customers, you need to define your values so people have something to connect to.
Write the values after you write mission and purpose statements.
Values are fundamental and rarely change.
DEFINITION
Values are deeply held convictions, priorities and underlying assumptions that influence attitudes and behaviours in your organisation. When values are deeply ingrained and widely shared by people within your organisation, they become a way of life within the organisation. People with like values bond together to create a force that is greater than themselves. Organisations that score well in the “great-to-work-for” stakes invariably have a good culture driven by strong, pervasive values.
Values say WHO you are as an organisation.
The best values are those that require strong decisions in order for them to be upheld. A list of about five values is best. Too many values on the list make them hard for people to remember and all employees should be able to recall the values upon request. People have to know the values if they are to live by them.
Weak, soppy, generic values are too easy to uphold and don’t create a strong culture. Weak values create a weak culture and strong values create a strong culture.
Unique cultures have unique values that can create the soul of the organisation.
“Too many companies want their brands to reflect some idealized, perfected image of themselves. As a consequence, their brands acquire no texture, no character.”
Richard Branson
Values provide inspiration for your mission and purpose statements.
The primary audiences for your values are your employees. However, it is also worth communicating your values to your customers so they know what you stand for as an organisation.
EXAMPLES
B2B
Merck
Corporate social responsibility
Unequivocal excellence in all aspects of the company
Science-based innovation
Honest and integrity
Profit, but profit from work that benefits humanity
Atlassian
Open company, no BS
Build with heart and balance
Don’t f#*k the customer
Play, as a team
Be the change you seek
Retail
Nordstrom
Service to the customer above all else
Hard work and individual productivity
Never being satisfied
Excellence in reputation; being part of something special
B2C
Philip Morris
The right to freedom of choice
Winning – beating others in a good fight
Encouraging individual initiative
Opportunity based on merit; no one is entitled to anything
Hard work and continuous self-improvement
Sony
Elevation of the Japanese culture and national status
Being a pioneer – not following others; doing the impossible
Encouraging individual ability and creativity
Walt Disney
No cynicism
Nurturing the promulgation of “wholesome American values”
Creativity, dreams and imagination
Fanatical attention to consistency and detail
Preservation and control of the Disney magic
ANZ Bank
Integrity
Collaboration
Accountability
Respect
Excellence
Microsoft
Innovation
Diversity and inclusion
Corporate social responsibility
Philanthropies
Environment
Trustworthy computing
Telstra
Show we care
Work better together
Trust each other to deliver
Make the complex simple
Find our courage
Cotton On
Ever better
Personal leadership
People first
Keeping it real
Fun
Integrity
RESOURCES
DOWNLOAD WORKSHOP NOTES TO GET STARTED
Download the workshop exercise below, this exercise should take a day to complete and will require executives from all relevant departments; finance, marketing, sales, human resources, product, operations etc.
The workshop notes contain the agenda to conduct a one-day session with your team. Notes from the library will help. If you prefer to use a Culture Firm endorsed consultant click here.
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