What do you think of this statement?

“Our values are innovation, team spirit, agility and respect.”

Sounds familiar to you, doesn’t it?
You’ve probably read it a hundred times in umpteen mission statements…?
Perhaps such lists of values can also be found on your website? Or are they hanging in a silver picture frame somewhere in the office corridor? Let me ask you directly: do you feel the official values of your company in your everyday life?
Or to put it another way: would your employees really choose exactly these terms?

If you hesitate here, you are pretty close to the core problem of many companies that want to define their values and implement a mission statement: Sounds fancy, but has nothing to do with the day-to-day running of the company.

What are corporate values really?

When companies want to define values, they first ask themselves a fundamental question: what are corporate values? The simple answer: values are the principles that guide your actions. In our experience, the more relevant answer goes deeper:

Values are your inner compass in a complex world.

This means that values provide orientation and direction, especially in times of uncertainty, dynamism and increasing complexity(VUCA). They help employees to make decisions, even when there are no clear rules. And even more importantly:

Values only become effective when they manifest themselves in behavior.

A value like “respect” is meaningless as long as it is not clear:

• How does respect manifest itself in everyday life?
• What do we do – and what do we consciously not do – to live respect?

If respect is on your about us page, but you have a rather rude tone in real life, don’t want to hear your employees’ perspectives and don’t address their personal and work-related needs at all, then they probably won’t feel particularly respected by your employees.

That’s why company values are not what you write down, but what people actually experience with you.

Why do many companies fail to define their values?

Our customer Karin, a personnel developer in a medium-sized company with around 250 employees, knows this gap very well. She is given the task of developing a mission statement and takes a structured approach: Workshops with the management, coordination, formulations. Once she has done this, she has a list of nice-sounding values in her hands that also feel right: Trust, responsibility, innovation, team spirit. – The management is satisfied.

And yet Karin still has this faint feeling that something is missing. A few weeks later, she gets the answer. Employee Benjamin comments in a team meeting: “Yes, our new values are nice, but they have absolutely nothing to do with my everyday life! We’d all like to have team spirit, but that doesn’t mean we already have it. What happened to the big order the other day? – We missed out on it because several departments simply didn’t work together. Of course, we can put a fancy sticker on it now, but that doesn’t solve our problem. On the contrary: if we pretend that we already have team spirit, then we will never start to address the fact that we don’t have it.”

After Benjamin’s fiery speech, Karin realizes: “The problem is not the wording. The problem is the lack of intersection with reality. The values are those that the management would like to have, but unfortunately they have nothing to do with Karin’s company: neither with the lived reality nor with what the employees say they need to do their job well or to position the company well for the future.

In our experience, a classic mistake is made here: values are treated as a communication project – instead of a transformation process.

How can you develop corporate values properly?

Many people are looking for exactly that: a method to define values correctly.
The crucial change of perspective is simple – and challenging at the same time:

Values are not fixed. They are made visible and developed together.

But why?
Because a value system already exists in every organization – regardless of whether it is formulated or not. So the real question is not: “What values do we want to have?”, but rather:

• Which values are actually practiced today?
• What values do we need for a successful future?
• And where is the gap between the two?

This is where real transformation work begins.
The key is therefore to involve people in the development of the values. This transformation process is most successful when all employees have the opportunity to participate in the development of the values and the subsequent implementation of the mission statement. Here, the journey is the destination. The dialog about values, the exchange about the needs and wishes of the employees and also the dialog about the necessary behavior from their point of view, all this already creates culture.

After the discussion with Benjamin, Karin asks many employees about the defined values. The results are clear: the employees are neutral to indifferent to the values; many consider them to be a marketing measure, but do not associate them with their everyday lives. Karin evaluates the results of the discussions and introduces herself to the management. Managing Director Thomas is initially taken aback, but quickly realizes that there is a need for action. He releases the budget.

How do you start a value process in a company?

So how do you prepare a values process in your company?
First, a planning team is formed before anything is announced in the organization. What you need is a small, deliberately mixed team of:

• internal project management
• HR
• Communication
• Representatives from different areas
• Change manager, internal or external

Five to seven people are needed to support and steer the process.

Why is the values team so important?
Because this team gets the people in the company on board, because no change can succeed without the employees. Transformation cannot be imposed. It comes about through participation. Or to put it another way: whether the process works is decided at the very beginning – not at the end. And every company is different, so every transformation process is different. The people in the company have the best insight into what works for them and what does not.

Karin speaks to some of her colleagues, including Benjamin. He is all fired up.

How do you involve employees in the development of values?

Values are an important topic for many people. They decide whether people want to stay with the company or whether they don’t really feel comfortable. They touch people’s innermost feelings. Hardly anyone will be indifferent to which culture is lived in the company. If the mission statement describes the future culture, everyone in the company should have the opportunity to contribute their opinion.

There are many ways to do this; one that is easy to implement is the ValueParty app. Employees can easily define their values on their cell phone, quickly providing a basis for the next steps.

Some people only want to spend a little time on it, others want to really get involved. To take this into account, we like to work with ambassadors who represent the various teams. Ambassadors allow all teams to be closely involved. The ambassadors work together with the managers and the planning team on the results of the value party. The ambassadors serve as an interface to the employees. They have an ear to the ground and pass on feedback from colleagues.

First steps in your value process

The first step is a kick-off event with all employees.

And this is more important than many people think. Not because results are already being produced there, but because this is where the foundations are laid for

• Understanding
• Transparency
• Real participation

In our experience, a tension often arises at this moment: curiosity meets skepticism. And that is precisely why it is not about convincing – but about opening up a genuine dialog. Because:

Values work does not begin with answers. It starts with the right questions.

The kick-off event goes well. First, Thomas describes the things that have been achieved, then he points out the challenges that lie ahead and why it is necessary to deal with one’s own values. Karin explains how the values process works and how each individual can define their values. And Benjamin describes his desire to work better together from his employees’ perspective. He talks about the disaster with the potential major order that didn’t work out. Of course, everyone in the company knows what this is about; after all, this incident was discussed for a long time in the coffee kitchens. This arouses great interest. The opportunity to download the ValueApp during the kick-off and get started straight away is particularly motivating. The employees get started.

How can you make corporate culture measurable?

The kick-off event is followed immediately or shortly afterwards by the step that often makes the biggest difference. Instead of discussing values, they are made visible. Tools such as the ValueParty are used to identify three central perspectives:

• What are the employees’ personal values?
• What values are currently practiced in the company?
• What values are necessary for the future?

The result is a value profile. And this profile shows something crucial: Not opinions. But patterns.

This shows where the biggest gaps exist between the culture lived and the desired culture and between the culture lived and the culture required for the success of the company. The quality of the mission statement and the direction of any subsequent transformation process can be read from this and made transparent for everyone in the company.

Why is the value profile so important?

When Karin and the management look at the results of the ValueParty, a moment arises that changes everything. “We thought we were providing guidance,” says Managing Director Thomas, “but apparently we come across as rather hierarchical.” This moment is uncomfortable. And at the same time indispensable. Because this is where what makes transformation possible in the first place happens:

Feeling becomes clarity. Assumption becomes reality.

The value profile acts like a mirror of the corporate culture. And this mirror is the basis for any further development.

How can values really be anchored in the company?

The real work begins now. And this is where the biggest difference to traditional approaches becomes apparent: It is not a one-off project, but an iterative process.

The results of the value profile are:

• Discussed in small groups of managers and ambassadors
• Scrutinized together with all employees and underpinned by examples
• Developed into an idea of the desired corporate culture

Only then are values defined and the mission statement developed.

Important here:

The process is iterative.

Time and again, content is fed back into the organization. Again and again, people give feedback. This is exactly how something is created that cannot be prescribed: genuine understanding that arises through dialog.

What is a mission statement?

A mission statement is a description of the desired and required corporate culture that serves as a guide for all employees in the company. It can be formulated in the form of values and associated guiding principles. As soon as the value profile is available, the employees consider how the values can be put into practice in the day-to-day running of the company. And based on this, a code of conduct is developed by the culture team of ambassadors and managers.

In Karin’s company, it turns out that Benjamin had the right instinct when it came to team spirit. Many employees have stated that the value of team spirit has hardly been practiced so far, but is all the more desired. This means that mutual support is needed in day-to-day business, the feeling of pulling together instead of working against each other. Employees talk about transparency, information flow and exchange between departments. The Culture Team summarizes the feedback from employees in the following mission statement: “We support each other across departmental boundaries and actively share information with other departments that could be of use to them.”

How do you implement a mission statement sustainably?

This question is asked particularly frequently – and often answered incorrectly. A mission statement is not implemented like an IT system. It is created through participation, dialog and lived practice.
The ambassadors as representatives (of individual teams or departments) carry the values and the mission statement to their teams:

• You moderate the dialogs
• You gather opinions, ideas and feedback
• They make the process transparent for everyone

Step by step:

Not just a mission statement – but a shared understanding of cooperation.

Employees make use of the opportunity to get involved. Initially, there is skepticism as to whether anything will actually change or whether this is just a lot of hot air. However, the management’s reactions, adjustments to processes and changes in the way we are managed soon produce some visible results. And that motivates the colleagues to get more involved.

Defining corporate values, developing culture: quick, easy – and for the garbage can? That’s how it works!

In this video (1:59 min) Susanne and Oliver talk about corporate values and how defining values often works. Irony intended…

What is the real benefit of a mission statement?

Such a process is completed after about a year. At least formally, that means there are values, a mission statement and clear guidelines. But the real difference becomes apparent in everyday life:

• Managers listen better
• Employees express themselves more clearly
• Decisions are made more consciously

Why?

Because values were not imposed top-down here. But because the entire organization worked on them together. Everyone thought together about what kind of culture, values and mission statement they needed. They came to a common denominator and made a commitment.

15 months later, the culture team meets again. They discuss the changes in the corporate culture. A lot has changed: the mood in the company is much more positive and there is much greater commitment. Cooperation between the various departments has made it possible to identify and acquire potential customers. Benjamin states: “So now I would also subscribe to the team spirit.” The others nod with a grin.

Karin is glad that she picked up on Benjamin’s impulse back then. She would never have imagined that it would change so much.

What is the most important insight when defining values?

If you only take one thing away from this article, it might be this:

The process is more important than the result.

Or even clearer: values are not created by formulating beautiful words. And a mission statement does not become effective through top-down communication. What really counts is dialog!

And now?

Perhaps you thought of your own company while reading this? Then now might be a good time to look at the values in your company. With a clear understanding of how values actually enable transformation.

And you know what? You can simply try out how to create a value profile for free: the tool for this, the Value Party, is available as an app. You can get a single license from us free of charge and then, in a quiet minute, you can find out what your own company-related values are. You can simply try it out for free and without obligation. And check whether this would be an opportunity to tackle a change together with your employees that will put your company in the best possible position for the challenges of the future.

Further reading on the topic of defining values

Would you like to learn more about how to define values by creating a value profile and what a value profile looks like?
Read our article: How to create a values profile and use it to change your company

The Value Party is not only available as an app; you can also work with it live, even in large groups. If you would like to take a closer look at the Value Party, take a look here: Value Party website.

Want to find out a little more about values and their scientific basis?
The Graves value system: What really matters to people
The Spiral Dynamics value model: What really matters to people 2/2

Find out here: Why value management makes your company successful

And here’s another article on the topic of value change: Definition & guide to cultural change in your company