The value of company values

If I asked you to describe your personal values you might share a few words you try to live your life by. For most of us this is an easy task. We all have our own life history, culture and experiences that shape who we are and how we behave. Our values are important to us.

In the workplace however, you might be asked to leave your personal values at home and live those of your company. I believe a set of clear Values is an essential part of a successful organisational culture. Let’s take a look at how valuable they are. 

Why are Values in organisations so important?

Organisations boast a richness and diversity of cultures, ages, abilities, beliefs, life and work experiences amongst their employees. Businesses absolutely need and benefit from this variety.  

However, this richness has the potential to cause disagreements and tricky situations. Everyone has their own set of beliefs around what’s right and wrong. An individual’s version of doing the right thing varies from one person to the next. It’s natural. We each come with our own inbuilt values.

For example, I may believe that politeness is a number one priority, yet in other people’s life experience this may not be so important. 

Values guide the way we behave, what we do and how we interact with others.

It’s the way we do things around here

When organisations create and embed a set of Values, everyone in the organisation gains an understanding of ‘what we do around here’. Companies create Values to guide employees in how to approach and deliver their work. When everyone lives and breathes the Values, bringing them to life each and every day, that’s when the magic happens. 

Living the Values grows and embeds an organisational culture.

Values create a culture of success

There’s a saying that ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’. The more I think about this the more I believe it is true. No matter how good your business strategy, if you don’t have the right values and behaviours within your team you will never achieve your strategy. 

Strong values build the company culture that’s the catalyst for delivering your strategy.

Embedding your Values starts at the top

A couple of years ago, I worked with a super successful business that had been through a number of acquisitions. It was a period of massive growth.

I gathered all the leaders together for a workshop to help them integrate into a single business culture. It was important to the business for all leaders to lead by the same set of company Values. The company had prepared so well. They had established their Vision and Values and shared these with the senior partners.

However, there was a lot of confusion amongst the leaders around how things should be done. I asked one of the leaders about the company Values. They told me, ‘It’s nothing to do with me’. 

Herein lies the problem. The acquisitions all came with their own business cultures and their own way of doing things. The leader I spoke with completely missed the point. If senior leaders believe the Values are nothing to do with them, then others will never embrace the Values. 

It’s like a child observing their parents and learning from the way they behave. People learn from observing others. Employees learn from observing leaders.  

What would it be like if everyone lived and breathed your Values?

This is a question I ask leaders when I deliver our Exceptional Leadership Makes Sense programme. What difference would it make to your organisation if ALL colleagues embraced your Values?

The usual response is ‘amazing’. I tend to agree! 

When we drill down into what the outcomes and results would be within the team, leaders agree that the deliverables would occur naturally. Nobody would need to worry. 

Clearly, culture does eat strategy for breakfast.

Culture is everything

Values are so called for a reason - they are valuable. They state what is important to an organisation. Values help leaders to lead by example and guide employees to do the right thing. People are clear about what good looks and feels like. Teams are set up to achieve success and feel empowered to take ownership and bring that success to life. 

Whilst it’s important to embrace the diversity of your team, it’s equally important to guide them to understand and embrace your organisation’s culture. This is when Values show their true value.

Do you have a set of company Values? If you’d like help to create or embed Values in your organisation, please get in touch and ask about our training programmes.