Beyond Buzzwords: Making Core Values Meaningful

Are you wasting money on core values?

A Deloitte survey found that 90% of executives believe core values are important, and 80% of companies claim to have them. However, Gallup reports that only 23% of U.S. employees strongly agree they can apply their organization's values daily, and just 27% believe in those values.

Folks, we have a major disconnect.

Why the disconnect? Here are the top reasons core values fail:

1. Lack of genuine commitment: Leadership doesn’t embody or commit to the core values.

2. Inconsistency: Not holding everyone to the same standard (including the owner).

3. Lack of integration: No system to use values meaningfully.

4. Superficial adoption: Created primarily to enhance the company’s image.

5. Failure to reflect reality: Core values do not reflect the actual culture.

In order to reverse this trend, and make your financial investment worthwhile we need to better understand the terms we are using.

Core Values: the fundamental principles or values that guide a company or group’s actions and decisions.
- Example: Integrity and innovation are at the core of our business.

Aspiration: a strong desire to achieve something high or great.

Trigger: In the business context, a trigger is an event or condition that sets off a specific action or series of actions.

To be clear there is nothing wrong with aspirations, but they tend to cause 2 common issues:

1. As they are something we hope to achieve, it limits an emotional response if we do not reach our aspiration. I may want a team that shows initiative, but if they don’t demonstrate this, how do I hold them accountable?

2. Aspirations are often the bare minimum and are cliches. We all want integrity, respect, teamwork, excellence, innovation, customer focus, diversity and sustainability, but should they not be the barrier to entry? The other factor to keep top of mind, is you aren’t the only one that gets to score you on your core values. I do, so claiming to have integrity and acting in a way that doesn’t display honest moral principles can backfire quickly. Quite, simply, we need to do better.

How do you accomplish this?

Here are a few practical tips to ensure that core values are more than just words on a wall.

1. Review your current core values. Do they trigger any emotional response? If yes, great, move on. If no, try the free “Core Values Workshop” below. No strings attached.

2. Do you have a mechanism to score your company and employees on these values? If yes, great, move on. If no, try and tie your core values to a company review. I teach my clients to create a “Monthly Health Check”. Want more info, Check out my blog on “Time Management for Leaders”

Let’s remember core values should play a crucial role in maintaining ethical standards, guiding behaviour, and achieving sustained success. They can also play a crucial role in providing a foundation for decision-making, building a strong organizational culture, and fostering and environment of trust and accountability.

The key is to go beyond buzzwords, and make core values meaningful.

Want more check out this free workshop on Core Values.