This web app uses cookies to compile statistic information of our users visits. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. If you wish you may change your preference or read about cookies

January 11, 2024, vizologi

How Company Values Shape Employee Behavior

Company values affect how employees behave. These values guide how employees interact, make decisions, and represent the company. Understanding this influence is important for creating a positive work environment. By studying how values impact behavior, we can learn how companies can build a culture that matches their beliefs.

What Are Company Values?

A company can identify and define its core values by first understanding the different types of values. These include core, aspirational, permission-to-play, and accidental. This helps prevent confusion among employees and ensures that management remains in touch with the company’s guiding values.

Being aggressively authentic and owning the process are essential steps in establishing and communicating company values. By driving a values initiative with strategic beliefs and involving small teams in the process, a company can ensure that its values are embedded at every level of the organization.

Furthermore, to integrate values into its culture and decision-making processes, a company should weave core values into every employee-related process. This includes hiring methods, performance management systems, and dismissal policies. This comprehensive integration ensures that values truly guide behavior and decisions at every step.

Different Kinds of Company Values

Honest Values

Honest values are important for shaping a company’s culture and reputation. They provide a clear framework for expected behaviors and guide employees on how to interact with each other, customers, and the public.

These values also serve as a compass for decision-making and define the ethical standards that employees should uphold in their daily work.

To effectively communicate and integrate honest values into operations, a company can take several steps. It can define specific behaviors associated with its values to provide clear guidelines for employees. The company should also invest in teaching these behaviors to its employees so they understand how to apply the values in practice.

Moreover, core values should be integrated into various employee-related processes, such as hiring, performance management, and dismissal policies, to demonstrate their importance in every aspect of the organization. By taking these steps, a company can ensure that its honest values are not just empty words, but a guiding force in the behaviors and practices of its employees.

Teamwork and People Values

Company values contribute to teamwork and positive relationships among team members by providing a framework for expected behaviors and attitudes. These values set a standard for how team members should interact, communicate, and collaborate with each other, ultimately promoting a culture of respect, trust, and mutual support within the team.

To ensure that company values are effectively communicated and shared among all team members, leaders can utilize various methods such as ongoing training and development programs, regular reinforcement of values through company communications, and recognition of employees who embody these values in their everyday work.

Additionally, incorporating values into the hiring and onboarding process can help to align new employees with the company’s culture and expectations.

Company values can be incorporated into decision-making processes to foster a collaborative and cohesive team environment by using them as a guiding principle for evaluating potential courses of action. When faced with decisions, team members can refer to the company values to ensure that their choices align with the organization’s overall mission and principles. This approach not only reinforces the importance of the values, but also encourages a collective and unified approach to decision-making, ultimately strengthening the team’s cohesiveness.

Making the World Better Values

“Making the World Better Values” at the company means committing to ethical and responsible behavior. This helps create a positive impact on society and the environment.

Incorporating these values can improve the company’s success by gaining trust and loyalty from customers and attracting top talent. It also enhances the company’s reputation.

The company can ensure these values are integrated into all aspects of its operations and decision-making by defining specific associated behaviors. This includes incorporating them into employee training, performance evaluations, and decision-making processes.

By doing this, the company can create a culture of accountability and consistent application of these values in all aspects of its business.

Setting Goals and Getting Them Done Values

To prioritize “Setting Goals and Getting Them Done Values,” a company can start by defining these values and showing how they fit with the overall mission. Giving examples of behaviors that demonstrate these values can help employees understand their importance and how to use them at work.

To make sure employees are actively working toward their goals and values, a company can use strategies like regular goal-setting sessions, progress tracking, and recognition for those who show the desired behaviors. Training programs on goal-setting and time management can also give employees the skills they need.

To communicate and integrate these values into the company culture, leaders should consistently show and support these behaviors. Also, including these values in performance evaluations, team meetings, and company-wide communications can help to make them important and encourage employees to follow them.

The Difference Between Now and Future Values

Values We Have Now

The company’s core values shape its culture and success. They define specific behaviors that drive accountability and consistency at work. These values provide clear guidelines for behaviors that align with objectives like teamwork. They also ensure that employees consistently apply them in their daily work, guiding decision-making and behavior.

The blog emphasizes that these specific behaviors complement and give practical direction to the core values, reinforcing the company culture and success.

Values We Want to Have

The blog talks about the importance of defining specific behaviors. This helps to hold people accountable and maintain consistency in the organization. Rather than just relying on abstract core values, the blog emphasizes the need for clear guidelines on behaviors linked to values like teamwork. This helps employees to understand and consistently apply them in their daily work.

It also discusses how core values and defined behaviors can coexist, with behaviors providing practical direction for core values. The blog warns against mapping behaviors directly to specific values, as not all behaviors may perfectly align with core values and doing so could limit the practical application of important behaviors within the organization.

Why Are Values So Important for a Company?

Company values are really important. They guide decision-making, behavior, and interactions. They also help employees understand expectations, conduct, and the company’s mission and vision. Values shape decision-making and influence the strategic direction of the company. They ensure that all actions align with the established values. Values also impact employees by promoting a sense of belonging and motivation, which enhances job satisfaction and productivity.

For customers, values communicatea commitment to integrity, quality, and service, influencing their loyalty and trust in the brand. By upholding these values, a company builds a strong reputation and fosters positive relationships with stakeholders, contributing to its long-term success and sustainability.

Examples of Values from Real Companies

Netflix’s Own Values

Netflix website

Netflix has specific values: communication, respect, integrity, and excellence. These values shape employee behavior and decision-making, creating a positive work environment.

These values contribute to the company’s success and culture by guiding employee conduct and interactions. They foster transparency, collaboration, and high ethical standards, which are essential for growth and innovation.

Netflix integrates its values into various aspects of the company. They are part of the hiring process, performance management, and employee policies. This helps create a values-driven workforce aligned with the company’s objectives.

Apple’s Big Ideas

Apple website

Apple’s big ideas center around creating innovative technological solutions. They aim to have a positive impact on the world, with a focus on sustainability. This involves reducing their environmental footprint and promoting clean energy initiatives. These values align with Apple’s future goals of developing cutting-edge products while minimizing environmental impact.

Apple’s values play a significant role in the company’s success. They guide decision-making processes, influence product design, and shape the corporate culture. By prioritizing values like environmental responsibility and technological innovation, Apple ensures that its business practices align with its long-term vision and objectives.

Google’s Rules for Success

Google website

Google focuses on key values such as communication, respect, integrity, and excellence. These values are important for maintaining a positive work environment and ethical behavior at all levels.

Google encourages collaboration and innovation among its employees to promote teamwork and social responsibility. This creates a collaborative and socially conscious work environment.

For other companies looking to establish similar values, it’s crucial to understand core, aspirational, and permission-to-play values. They should prioritize authenticity, drive the values through an engaged team, and integrate them into every aspect of operations, including hiring and performance management. This helps create a robust values framework that supports the overall mission and enhances organizational culture.

Ben & Jerry’s Social Mission

Ben & Jerry’s website

Ben & Jerry’s has a Social Mission. This includes social justice, environmental sustainability, and economic equality. They do initiatives like fair trade sourcing, support for small-scale farmers, and advocating for environmental conservation. This makes the world a better place. They source ethically, reduce their environmental footprint, and empower local communities. This is good for society. It also strengthens the company’s brand and reputation. It makes customers and employees happy.

It inspires other businesses to do the same. This has a positive impact on the global community.

Adidas and Their Game Plan

Adidas’ values prioritize teamwork, goal setting, and improving the world. These values are reflected in their game plan, which emphasizes collaboration, clear objectives, and sustainability efforts.

The company actively communicates and shares these values with employees and the public through various channels. These include internal training programs, company-wide meetings, and public campaigns.

Adidas drives accountability and consistency within the organization by defining specific behaviors that align with its core values. This ensures that their values are actionable principles that guide employee conduct daily.

This approach allows Adidas to integrate its values into every aspect of its business effectively. This includes employee performance management systems and their social responsibility initiatives, ultimately reinforcing the practical application and meaningful impact of their core values.

How to Decide What Your Company Values Are

Who Makes the Decisions?

The company’s leadership team makes decisions about the company’s values. They consider input from various stakeholders, such as employees, customers, and shareholders. This approach ensures that the chosen values reflect diverse perspectives and expectations within the organization.

To ensure that the chosen values align with the company’s overall goals and vision, the company takes deliberate steps to define specific behaviors associated with each value. This links behaviors to values and provides clear guidelines for employees to consistently understand and apply these values in their day-to-day work. This approach also reinforces the practical application of core values within the organization, driving accountability and consistency across different functions and levels.

Ask Everyone What They Think

The company’s values shape workplace behaviors and promote accountability and consistency. They provide clear expectations and standards for employees.

Defining company values can be tough. The blog suggests linking specific behaviors to the values for accountability and consistency. It also stresses the importance of aligning behaviors with organizational objectives and teaching them to employees.

The blog warns against relying only on abstract core values. It emphasizes defining specific behaviors for daily application and integrating them into every employee-related process, from hiring to performance management, to build a cohesive organizational culture.

Look for Inspiration

When developing new values for a company, it’s suggested to go beyond generic terms like “Integrity” and “Excellence”. Instead, focus on specific behaviors that drive accountability and consistency in the workplace. For instance, behaviors related to collaboration, innovation, or customer-centricity can serve as practical examples for defining new company values.

To identify core values, a company can look for inspiration from specific behaviors associated with those values. By aligning these behaviors with the organization’s objectives, company leaders can show how core values can be applied in employees’ daily work. Incorporating these behaviors into employee-related processes, such as hiring and performance management, can also help solidify the core values and make them more tangible.

It’s important for a company to consider different ideas and perspectives when determining their values to ensure a comprehensive and inclusive approach. Considering a variety of perspectives can broaden the scope of potential values and lead to the identification of behaviors that resonate with a diverse workforce. Involving employees in discussions about values can ensure that the chosen values and associated behaviors better reflect the organization’s culture and philosophy.

Listen to Different Ideas

A company can actively ask for input from diverse sources to ensure they hear different ideas when deciding on core values. This might involve encouraging employees at all levels and seeking feedback from customers and other external stakeholders. By including input from various sources, including individuals with different backgrounds and experiences, a company can better understand the values that matter to its broader community.

To include input from diverse sources, a company can take specific steps like having open discussions, doing surveys or focus groups, and creating a culture that encourages people to share their views without fear of consequences. This process may involve listening to different opinions and being open to considering values that may challenge or expand the company’s existing beliefs. It promotes an inclusive and collaborative approach to deciding core values.

Actively looking for and considering a variety of perspectives and ideas when establishing organizational values is vital for a company to make sure its values connect with a wide range of stakeholders. By including diverse viewpoints in decision-making, a company can gain insight into the values that matter most to its employees, customers, and the broader community. This inclusive approach can lead to more meaningful and relevant core values that show the company’s dedication to listening to and valuing different ideas.

Make the Values Clear

There are four types of company values: core, aspirational, permission-to-play, and accidental.

Mixing these up can confuse employees and make management seem out of touch.

A company can decide its main values by being authentic and owning the process. This helps to avoid viewing values as a one-time event and instead drive fundamental, strategically sound beliefs across the organization.

It’s important to make values clear to everyone to drive accountability and consistency in the workplace. This provides guidelines for behaviors associated with values, enabling employees to understand and apply them in their daily work while aligning with the organization’s objectives.

Check if People Like the Values

One way to see if people like the company values is to check how consistently they are being used at work. For example, if teamwork is valuable, the company can see if employees work together well and if teamwork is encouraged and appreciated.

Another way is to ask employees for feedback through surveys or focus groups. This can help understand their thoughts about the company’s values and how well they match with their own beliefs and work experiences.

Also, the company can track employee engagement, turnover rates, and overall satisfaction to understand how employees and stakeholders receive the values. This can show if the values create a positive and supportive work environment or if there are differences between the stated values and the company culture.

Build a New Way We Do Things

A company can establish its core values by understanding different types of values. These include core, aspirational, permission-to-play, and accidental. This prevents confusion among employees and ensures alignment with the organization’s objectives.

Being authentically committed to the values and owning the process are vital steps. This ensures that the values initiative is not viewed as a one-time event but as a fundamental belief system integrated into every employee-related process.

To ensure everyone understands and aligns with the new values, the company should communicate them consistently and consistently. Small teams should drive the values efforts to instill employee ownership and commitment.

Integrating the values into every aspect of the organization, including hiring methods, performance management systems, and dismissal policies, reinforces their importance and ensures consistent application.

Encouraging innovation and creativity involves identifying specific behaviors aligning with the organization’s objectives and teaching these behaviors to employees. Providing clear guidelines for these behaviors fosters an environment where employees feel empowered to apply the new values in their daily work while nurturing innovation and creativity.

Sharing the Values with Everyone

When New People Join

New employees need to know the company’s values: Communication, Respect, Integrity, and Excellence. One way to teach them about these values is by explaining the behaviors linked to teamwork and other values. Understanding and following the company values is important for accountability and consistency. By showing specific behaviors that match the company’s goals and teaching them to new employees, they can apply the values in their daily work.

This combination of core values and defined behaviors gives clear guidance and supports the values, making it easier for employees to use them in the organization.

Keeping the Values in Mind Always

To ensure its values stay relevant as the business grows, a company can define specific behaviors linked to those values. This helps hold employees accountable and ensures consistency in their day-to-day work. The company can also integrate its values into hiring, performance management, and dismissal, providing current and new employees are consistently reminded of its core values and associated behaviors.

Upholding its values is crucial for a company’s overall success and reputation. When employees consistently apply these behaviors, it fosters a culture of accountability and integrity, leading to improved morale, more vital teamwork, and higher productivity. On the other hand, failing to uphold these values can result in vague and inconsistent application, harming the organization’s success and reputation.

Invent Your Company’s Main Values

Organizations should define specific behaviors that align with their core values. This helps drive accountability and consistency in the workplace. It is crucial to identify behaviors that match the organization’s objectives and teach them to employees. The company ensures its values reflect its culture and goals by providing clear guidelines for these behaviors. This helps employees understand and consistently apply the values in their daily work.

Core values should be integrated into all employee-related processes, like hiring and performance management, to share them with everyone effectively. This integration encourages employees to embrace and embody these values in their work.

Vizologi is a revolutionary AI-generated business strategy tool that offers its users access to advanced features to create and refine start-up ideas quickly.
It generates limitless business ideas, gains insights on markets and competitors, and automates business plan creation.

Share:
FacebookTwitterLinkedInPinterest

+100 Business Book Summaries

We've distilled the wisdom of influential business books for you.

Zero to One by Peter Thiel.
The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek.
Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan.

Vizologi

A generative AI business strategy tool to create business plans in 1 minute

FREE 7 days trial ‐ Get started in seconds

Try it free