The Advent of Corporate Core Values
At many companies that I have worked with over the past several years I have noticed the trend of creating and publishing (some may say marketing) their Corporate Core Values. On the surface, I see nothing wrong with this as part of an overall definition of company culture.
Core Values Should Have Meaning
The main problem I see time and again is that, in order to make them inclusive and non-offensive to everyone, they are watered down to vague platitudes that sound great in marketing materials but don’t really add any value for the people that they were intended for.
The supposed purpose for core values is to give employees a framework of what the company as a whole considers the most important aspects of what and who they are. They are intended to be guidelines that can be used by anyone in the company as a basis for decisions that may affect the company as a whole. Ideally they are concise, unambiguous, and actionable. When a company has a core value of “Truthfulness”, it serves as a guide for an employee who is considering whether or not to cover up a mistake or negative outcome. In a company that truly values truthfulness above the many other possible actions, this core value reassures employees that when they are faced with the choice of telling the truth or telling someone what they want to hear, they will be acting in the will of the company by choosing to tell the truth.
Criteria for Core Values
Because of their potential power to act as guidelines for employees, core values should be carefully considered and clearly stated. The more specific a core value is, the more useful it will be as a guide to employees. Conversely, the more vague it is, the less employees will be able to easily determine the desired actions or behaviors. Ideally, core values will have the following qualities:
- Reflect the most important aspects of the reason the company exists
- Be concise and clear in their intent
- Apply equally to all employees regardless of position or rank
Values by Committee
However, in many cases, a company’s core values seem to originate with the same committee who is responsible for creating the Corporate Mission Statement (Another notoriously vague bit of corporate creation). According to revolutionary car designer Alec Issigonis, a camel is a horse designed by committee. What he was implying is that by the time everyone in a large group has satisfied their own desires in relation to whatever is being designed, the result is awkward, clumsy and a little weird. This is how I view most of the Corporate Core Values I have seen which do not conform to the aforementioned qualities.
Some real-life examples:
- Coca-Cola – Integrity: Be real (clever, but vague)
- Four Seasons Hotels – Building Communities (would be great for a contractor, but is a little counter-intuitive for a hotel chain)
- Google – You can make money without doing evil. (Although unusually frank in its admission that the company exists to make money, this is apparently what remains of their original “Don’t be Evil” motto after the law and marketing department got through with it)
- H&M – We believe in people (As opposed to all of those other companies who think people are just a hoax)
- Ikea – Accept and delegate responsibility. (This seems to cancel itself out, but maybe something was lost in the translation)
- Nike – Evolve immediately. (I’m not sure if Nike really understands the concept of evolution)
- Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream: We seek and support nonviolent ways to achieve peace and justice. We believe government resources are more productively used in meeting human needs than in building and maintaining weapons systems. (Wow. All of that AND yummy Ice Cream! Unfortunately, this one would be very difficult for an employee to use as a specific guideline)
Although these are some of the odder Core Values out there, they serve to illustrate what seems to be wrong with the whole corporate core value movement. They sound more like marketing than something that employees can use to make their company a success. In other words, the concept of Core Values is a good one, but the results are often worse than not having them at all.
I bring this up because I do believe that there is real value in writing down true core values. Not the kind that have to pass through marketing and legal before they can be used, but personal core values that simply state what you as a person believe. This list of basic beliefs can then serve as a reminder of how you believe things should be done. Why would you want such a list? To keep yourself honest.
Things don’t generally “just happen”
In raising my children, I didn’t want to be the kind of parent who said things like “If you ever get arrested, don’t call me!”. I did say that exact thing to them, but my real goal was to help them make decisions that would minimize their odds of ever being given the option of one phone call and having to try to figure out who to call. The advice I gave them was based on what I have observed when people do things that disappoint others or land them on the wrong side of the law.
One of the most often-used excuses for being arrested for DUI or being caught cheating on a spouse is “I didn’t set out to [drive 120 mph the wrong way across a bridge] [Have an affair with your sister] [Lose my retirement at the casino] [etc.]…it just happened! As far as excuses go, this one is a pretty solid choice. It dodges blame while acknowledging that you made a mess of things. What it isn’t though is genuine. Very rarely in our lives do things “just happen”. There are decisions that lead up to the point where things happen. For example, someone may claim that they are innocent of starting a fist fight with some drunk. “I was just minding my own business and this guy sucker-punched me!”, conveniently ignoring the fact that he was in a biker bar wearing a T-shirt with “Grown men don’t ride bikes” across the front of it.
Based on these observations, my advice to my children to avoid things “just happening” to them was “Don’t put yourself in a situation where something regrettable is likely to just happen”. This is where the core values come in.
Core Values as a Life Tool
Human beings are complicated animals. We can believe something in our hearts and still go against it in the wrong situation. When we get tired, angry, or depressed, our resolve to stick to those values is eroded. We will lie to ourselves about one small thing after another until we have rationalized doing something that we would never consider doing in a less weakened state.
It is at this point that your personal core values can save you some serious pain and regret. Say one of your personal core values is “Family First, Always”. You are on a business trip and have had two or five drinks and that cutie from marketing keeps making flirty remarks over dinner. Before long, your resolve starts to crumble as you think of how nice it would be to just go for a walk in the park with them. You pull out your expense card to pay for the meal and see your personal core values in your wallet. There it is, right there staring at you…”Family First, Always”. What do you do? If you really believe that this value is important to you and your view of the world, it may cause you to reconsider putting yourself in a situation that could cause you to go against it.
Be True to Yourself
I am not pretending that writing down a bunch of platitudes will make you a better person…it won’t. What it will do is remind you that you are already a better person. If you are the kind of person who starts bar fights and drives while intoxicated, it won’t do any good to write down things that you know you won’t follow.
The key to personal core values is that you have to believe them when you write them down. If you know you are not going to be nice to everyone you meet, don’t write it down. If you know that you are going to play poker with your bonus check instead of investing it in your retirement, don’t write it down. Instead, limit your Personal Core Values list to only things that you know in your heart are important to you. In other words, be true to yourself when creating personal core values.
Creating your Personal Core Values
1. List What is Important
To create your own personal core values list, begin by listing the top five to ten most important things you want to be remembered for after you die. Will it matter that you made a lot of money in the stock market (or at the casinos)? Will it matter that you never missed a day of work? More likely, the things that matter will be less about your achievements and more about your relationships with people. What would you like people to say about you after you are gone?
2. Eliminate Goals
Once you have your list, consider which one of the items are within your nature and willpower to do without completely changing who you are. While you may desire to be a great conversationalist or better piano player, those are not core values. Core values are who you are, not what you do. Cross out any that would require you to invest major amounts of time and effort to achieve. This doesn’t meant that they are not legitimate goals, but they are not values.
3. Reduce Them to Their Essence
With the items that remain, try to reduce them to their essence. For example, if you wrote down “I want to spend as much time with may family and be the best influence possible”, you could reduce it to the shorter but powerful “Always put family first”.
Once you have done this for all of the items you didn’t cross out, you have your list of core values. Congratulations!
Your final list represents the essence of who you are and what you believe. You don’t have to try to achieve these things because you already are them. The list is just a reminder of what you really believe. These are things that others would probably list if asked what your beliefs are.
I will finish with my own personal core values list:
- Listen
- Be Truthful
- Be Respectful
- Ask Questions
- Know when to be quiet
- Help Others
- Take Responsibility
- Pull Your Own Weight
Personal Core Values