How to Get Your Team to Truly Live Your Values

Any organization hinges not just on its strategic planning or innovative products but on the values it holds dear. Business values aren’t just a collection of words on a website or a poster in the office—they’re the guiding principles that influence every decision, every interaction, and every outcome. However, for these values to truly make an impact, they need to be deeply embedded in the DNA of your team. This blog will explore how to get your team to genuinely live your values, ensuring they are not just understood but fully embraced.

Involve Your Team in Defining the Values

One of the biggest mistakes leaders make is imposing values on their team without involving them in the process. For values to resonate, they must reflect the beliefs and aspirations of the entire organization, not just the leadership. When your team participates in defining these values, they are more likely to take ownership of them.

How to Do It:

• Workshops and Brainstorming Sessions: Organize workshops where team members can discuss what they believe the company stands for. Encourage open dialogue and ensure every voice is heard.
• Surveys and Feedback: Use anonymous surveys to gather honest feedback from your team about what values they think should guide the company.
• Collaborative Development: Once you have gathered input, work collaboratively with your team to refine and finalize the values. This ensures that the values are not just top-down directives but shared beliefs that everyone can get behind.

By involving your team in the creation of your company’s values, you ensure that these values are more than just words—they become part of your team’s identity.

Make Values a Part of Your Daily Operations

Once you have defined your values, the next step is to integrate them into every aspect of your daily operations. Values should guide decision-making, shape company policies, and influence how your team interacts with clients and each other.

How to Do It:

• Decision-Making Framework: Create a decision-making framework that aligns with your values. Encourage your team to use this framework when faced with tough choices, ensuring that all decisions are consistent with your core principles.
• Performance Reviews: Incorporate your values into performance reviews. Evaluate employees not just on their productivity but also on how well they embody the company’s values in their work.
• Daily Reminders: Use meetings, newsletters, and internal communications to regularly remind your team of the company’s values. Highlight examples of how these values are being lived out in the workplace.

By embedding values into daily operations, you make them an integral part of your company’s culture, ensuring they are consistently practiced and reinforced.

Lead by Example

As a leader, your actions set the tone for the rest of your team. If you want your team to live by the company’s values, you need to model those values in everything you do. This means being consistent, transparent, and unwavering in your commitment to the principles you expect your team to uphold.

How to Do It:

• Consistency: Ensure your actions align with the values you promote. Inconsistencies between what you say and what you do can erode trust and undermine the importance of the values.
• Transparency: Be open about the challenges and decisions you face as a leader, and explain how the company’s values guide your choices. This transparency helps build trust and reinforces the importance of living by these values.
• Accountability: Hold yourself accountable to the same standards you set for your team. When mistakes are made, acknowledge them, and demonstrate how you plan to rectify them in alignment with the company’s values.

When leaders consistently model the company’s values, it creates a ripple effect throughout the organization, encouraging others to follow suit.

Empower Your Team to Live the Values

For values to be truly lived, your team needs to feel empowered to act on them. This means creating an environment where employees feel supported and confident in making decisions that align with the company’s principles.

How to Do It:

• Autonomy: Give your team the autonomy to make decisions within the framework of the company’s values. Trust them to act in the best interest of the organization and its clients.
• Support: Provide the necessary resources and support to help your team live the values. This could include training, mentoring, or access to information that reinforces the importance of these principles.
• Recognition: Recognize and reward employees who consistently demonstrate the company’s values in their work. This not only reinforces the importance of these values but also motivates others to follow suit.

By empowering your team to live the values, you create a culture where these principles are not just talked about but actively practiced.

Align Values with Client Expectations

Your values should not only resonate internally but also align with what your clients expect from your business. When your values reflect what your clients care about, it strengthens relationships and builds trust.

How to Do It:

• Client Feedback: Regularly seek feedback from your clients to understand what they value most about your business. Use this information to refine and reinforce your company’s values.
• Communication: Clearly communicate your values to clients and demonstrate how these values guide your business operations. This can be done through marketing materials, client interactions, and customer service policies.
• Consistency: Ensure that your team consistently demonstrates the company’s values in every client interaction. This builds trust and reinforces your brand’s commitment to these principles.

When your values align with client expectations, they become a powerful tool for building strong, lasting relationships.

Regularly Revisit and Reinforce Your Values

Values should not be static. As your business grows and evolves, so too should your values. Regularly revisiting and reinforcing your values ensures they remain relevant and meaningful to your team.

How to Do It:

• Annual Review: Conduct an annual review of your values to assess whether they still align with your business goals and client expectations. Involve your team in this process to gather input and make necessary adjustments.
• Training and Development: Incorporate your values into training and development programs. This ensures that new hires understand the company’s principles from day one and that existing employees continue to live by them.
• Celebration: Celebrate milestones and successes that reflect your company’s values. This reinforces their importance and reminds your team of the positive impact of living by these principles.

By regularly revisiting and reinforcing your values, you ensure they remain a living, breathing part of your business, guiding it towards sustained success.

Getting your team to truly live your values is not an overnight process. It requires deliberate effort, consistent reinforcement, and a genuine commitment to making these values a central part of your business culture. By involving your team in the creation of these values, integrating them into daily operations, leading by example, empowering your team, aligning with client expectations, and regularly revisiting and reinforcing these principles, you can build a values-driven organization that not only survives but thrives in today’s competitive market.

When values are truly lived, they transform your business from the inside out, creating a cohesive, motivated, and high-performing team that is aligned with your company’s mission and poised for long-term success.