Mention company values and people across the business will probably groan – typically, values are created at top level with budget spent on rolling them out to the rest of the company via branded posters and coffee mugs. Leadership teams are then surprised when the values are not met with excitement or endorsement. Why? One factor is they probably didn’t involve the people they expected to adopt and implement them, often making for ineffective or empty values.
The Problem with Ineffective Values
Even with the best intentions, generic values will only leave the rest of the company feeling disheartened. The key is not to hurry the process. Everyone on the leadership and management teams should be on board with the values, understand their definitions and be ready to actively promote them to their teams, through redefined processes and their own actions.
‘80% of the Fortune 100 tout their values publicly—values that too often stand for nothing but a desire to be au courant or, worse still, politically correct.’ – Harvard Business Review
Key Benefits of Effective Company Values
Spending time to ensure you get the right values that reflect the unique selling points (USPs) of the company, will:
- Reinforce your mission and vision
- Increase engagement Increase productivity
- Encourage creativity, innovation and positive behaviour
- Attract top talent
- Create a stronger brand
- Improve company culture
Who to Involve
In my opinion ideally everyone, from receptionist, to CEO, should have the opportunity to contribute towards their company’s values, but there are typical (and sometimes valid) concerns about this, including:
- There are too many people in the company, there will be too many ideas
- It will take up too much time
- The wider business won’t understand the bigger picture or business strategy, so ideas might be off-track
- Contributors will be disappointed if their suggestions are not used
Whilst it’s true that the leadership team will have a better view across the business strategy, vision, mission and types of values aligned with these, if new values are rolled out without some prior communication, or without an option for people to have their say, how can you expect them to adopt them fully?
People have bought into the company by choosing to work there, buy into them by listening – especially if ‘collaboration’ is on the values shortlist! Even if the end results aren’t what some people wanted, they will hopefully feel engaged and valued, and if they don’t, it might mean that they aren’t suited to what the company stands for anymore, or vice versa.
‘Culture is a huge part of any company. If the company has a culture where people feel valued, involved, motivated and inspired, they will be engaged and productive.’ – Vineet Nayer, Author of ‘Employees First, Customers Second’
How to Involve the Wider Business
Make people feel part of this journey by:
- Offering the option for those interested to have a say: make it clear that ideas will be considered as part of a more extensive exercise.
- Send out an optional survey, or set up focus groups, with the groups having at least one representative from the leadership team or senior management team present.
- If you’re still hesitant in involving everyone, at the very least, the values discussions should be extended to the wider management team, as they will be the ones reinforcing them to their teams in the day to day.
- Showcasing the process and outcomes: give details of how the values were determined and how they will be implemented throughout the business, and;
- Most importantly, show how they will be led by leadership and management.
- Be prepared for values to be scrutinised by the rest of the business e.g. if one of your values is ‘transparency’ be prepared to have this referenced when people feel those at a senior level are not being open with communications about X, Y, Z.
Regardless of perceptions towards inclusivity in the workplace (you’d be surprised how many at senior level still consider this “flaky” or “fluff” despite much research), this is about getting buy-in from those you need it from most and, ultimately, help move the business forward, together.
Mind points:
Asking for feedback is part of giving a voice to the people across the business; it’s a core communication tool that helps improve inclusivity in the workplace and company culture. It also creates engagement at an individual level, which is especially sought after within larger companies. Feeling valued in (and out of) the workplace improves mental health, wellbeing and motivation, leading to a more productive employee and employer relationship.
Considerations:
Throughout the process, think about the following questions:
- Who is already showcasing these values throughout the company? What real examples of people already living these values do you have?
- Are management prepared to live these values and be outed when they don’t?
- Are these values core values/behaviours – true to your company and people specifically and not generic terms that every company could use? These are the values that make your company stand out and reinforce the culture.
- How can we implement the values across multiple processes? Or, how are they actionable? If you struggle with this, then it will be a struggle for others to follow them too.
- Do they link in with the company’s mission and vision?
- Do they align with the customer experience too?
- Are you rushing these against a deadline or just to tick a box? If so, it is recommended they are parked and picked up with there is more time, budget, resource etc – poorly implemented values are worse than having none at all.
Work with your HR and management teams to implement the values across key processes, including:
- Hiring processes
- Exit interviews
- Performance management
- Rewards and recognition
- Communications (internal and external)
- New business pitches
- Client relationship management
- Sales and marketing
Discuss how the following will showcase being ambassadors of the values:
- Leadership team
- Management team
- CEO/Founder(s)
Resources:
- Make Your Values Mean Something – Harvard Business Review
- Ensuring Company and Values Positively Impact Employee Engagement – Forbes
- How Business Core Values Benefit Employees – Bright HR
- Creating Values – Buffer
- Wellbeing – American Psychological Association
- Feeling Valued – Investors in People
- 6 Steps for Building and Inclusive Workplace – Society for Human Resource Management
Join The Conversation
Tell us about your experiences, good and bad, in the comments below.
Thanks for reading!