Tips to bring your company values to life

Most companies have their values proudly presented on their website.

But only few resonate and truly live up to them and fail to get buy-in from employees.

Recent data from Gallup found that only 1 in 4 employees believe in their company values.

Another study revealed that the majority of company values are falling short.

This is a shocking fact that leaders should worry about, as these values help build a sense of purpose in the workplace.

So how do you truly live up to your core values each day? And how do you get employee buy-in?

In this blog post, I share some tips to bring your company’s values to life.

For many employees, the company intranet is the starting point of their workday. It’s where people keep up with company news, search for files and documents as well as find and connect with colleagues.

So, make sure you have a dedicated place on the company intranet to communicate and promote your company’s values.

Go beyond simply listing out the company values. Explain why those values matter to the organization. Use an engaging format to introduce these values to employees, especially new hires. For example, share a video message of the CEO explaining the company values.

You can also show stories or examples of employees who actually lived up to these values and achieved great results. This is a good way to tell employees how the company’s values can be applied in reality. Also, those stories are interesting and engaging content to post on your intranet.

That brings me to my second tip.

An effective way to encourage a specific behaviour and make it a habit is through recognition and reward. When employees get recognized and rewarded for a value-centric behaviour, they become highly motivated to repeat it. Also, this helps to inspire other colleagues to do the same.

Not only leadership, but anyone in the company should be able to give recognition. It has been proved that appreciation between colleagues has a positive impact on employee engagement and performance.

I know a company that had a successful peer-to-peer recognition program. Their recognition program is called “The Service Hero Award”. In brief, employees could nominate a colleague as a “service hero” whenever they noticed that this colleagues’ actions aligned with the company values and resulted in a great achievement. This is a very good example of how you can promote your company values through peer-to-peer recognition.

Your company values should be lived across all levels of the company, starting from the top. It does not matter how great and strong your company’s values sound, they all become meaningless if employees see their leadership fail to abide the values they have established.

So don’t just talk about your values. Share examples of leadership living and breathing your company’s values – for example if they affect a leadership decision. It creates trust and respect from employees – which is the best way to make them believe in the company values and act accordingly.

And don’t leave them guessing; tell them which behaviours you expect from them to bring your company values to live. And if you do, be consistent. If employee health is one of your core values, it does not make sense to celebrate every occasion with an abundance of cake and alcohol, does it?

Building a connected workforce starts with hiring people that fit with your company culture. Incorporate your values in the hiring process and start early: even the job description in your job ad should reflect them. This way you make sure you attract the right people. Prepare a set of interview questions that help find talent that shares your values.

One of the values at Involv for instance, is teamwork. We ask candidates questions related to the ability to work cooperatively and support each other.

Go beyond assessing skills and work ethics in the employee performance evaluation. Consider evaluating how well your employees live up the company’s values too. It helps them understand the importance of committing to these values.

So what if employees’ behaviors offend the company values?

HR-experts advise to have an open and honest talk about it. Certainly, it’s a difficult but crucial talk if you want to maintain a good culture. Explain which actions you expect from your employees for them to comply to the company values.

In most organizations, the intranet is the central hub for all communications. It is therefore the best place to reflect and spread the company values and build a stronger culture.

The first tip I shared earlier included highlighting the company values and sharing real examples on the intranet.

But you can do even more with the intranet to bring your values to life:

• Brand your intranet so it has ‘personality’, reflects your company culture and creates a sense of belonging.

• Showcase the company values though images, photos and video. You will get more engagement with these forms of content than text.

• Use social features such as liking, commenting, @mentioning to show peer-to-peer recognition.

• Share wins and achievements (for example from your Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives) so everyone understands how the company values drive the company forward.

The benefits of living up to your company values are clear. It doesn’t just improve employee engagement and reinforce company culture – it also increases your bottom line and builds trust with customers.

So, if you’re curious to know how Involv can help you live up to your company values and build a stronger culture, feel free to get in touch.