Bring company core values to life – from poster to practice

Post originally from Insperity.com

Companies often spend a lot of time and effort creating their mission, vision and values. But too often they take all of that work, put words on a poster, place it in front of their employees – and miss the opportunity to put those values into practice.

The last thing you want after working on your values is for the poster’s content to become meaningless, something employees ignore while they grab coffee or heat up their lunch in the breakroom.

Yet so it goes at many organizations.

When it comes to posters about safety procedures, complaint-reporting processes or government notices, there may be possible legal ramifications for not putting the poster’s language into practice.

But what about another favorite poster topic: Company core values?

While there may be no legal problems associated with ignoring these ideas, doing so could cost your organization in other significant ways.

What happens if there’s no clarity among your stakeholders about what your company believes in?

• There’s no shared idea about what it means to be a part of your company, the preferred way to interact with others and how to complete tasks. This can influence your workplace culture and employee retention.
• Managers and employees may start operating according to their own values and priorities, which may not align with yours. This could impact your reputation, productivity and overall quality of work.
• You may have a difficult time recruiting the caliber of employees you want. It’s important for many job candidates – especially younger Millennials and Generation Z workers – that their companies exhibit values in alignment with their personal ones.
• As your company grows, it may be more challenging to assimilate new team members and establish consistency across the organization.

Getting started

Now, you might be wondering:

• What are a company's core values?
• And how do I select my company's values in the first place?

To discover the answer, ponder the mission and vision of your organization – your purpose and the goals you’re trying to accomplish.

Your company’s values are the behaviors you and your team exhibit as you work toward those goals as well as the character traits that external parties know you and your company by. Your values are the cornerstones of your company’s foundation and the guideposts that keep you on track – especially when your company is under pressure and facing challenges.

Everything you do is tied back to your values.

Read the full article here