When establishing company values, organisations frequently tend to opt for buzz words such as integrity, honesty, customer focus, and respect, which may sound good on paper, but what do these words really mean?
A company’s values, vision, and mission matter. Every successful company has a set of values that act as a compass to guide their employees to achieve their goals as well as the company’s. They are the essence of the company’s identity, their DNA, and they summarise the purpose of the organisation’s existence.
Company values can drive behavioural change and increase performance, to help achieve success and realise the vision. They can also motivate teams, encourage commitment, foster a community spirit, and create a sense of pride.
Yet, for many businesses, these are simply just words on paper. A tick box exercise or PR piece. From hiring to managing, training to performance reviews, teamwork to culture, values and their related behaviours need to be embedded into the heart and soul of the business and should be how employees hold each other accountable for living and breathing these beliefs. Embedding values should be a continuous and consistent exercise where values constantly need to be established and reinforced.
Adobe and Google are great examples of successful organisations that have invested time and effort to create bespoke company values that best encapsulate the hearts and minds of employees through meaningful and memorable language that enables employees to easily model corresponding behaviour. Google has laid out a set of guiding principles that makes it easy for employees to follow, track performance, and hold each other accountable for.
That said, no company is perfect. Not every employee will feel their experience has represented the values being positively brought to life. The goal organisation’s must aspire to is to learn from mistakes, hold people accountable who fall short of expectations and strive towards building a culture where people are engaged, valued, and productive.
To learn more about how we support your organisation to build a shared vision, embed new values, and develop behaviour change, please complete the contact form below. We’d be happy to arrange a brief consultancy call or send you a brochure of our solutions.
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