How to identify core values to drive a healthy culture

How do you move beyond vague slogans and define the specific behaviors that ensure your executive team is living and defending a healthy culture?

In my recent 5 Minute Growth Tip “Is your executive team driving a healthy culture?”, I discussed the four proven practices for turning culture from a “soft” concept into a competitive advantage: defining values and behaviors, sharing culture stories, coaching for cultural alignment, and using Topgrading for hiring.​

The first of these practices, defining core values with specific behaviors, is the foundation. Without clear, observable standards, culture remains a Growth Tax that creates friction and drains energy. When you define exactly what is expected, you give you and your executive team the tools to hold each other and others accountable.
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This process is adapted from the "Mission to Mars" exercise popularized by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in their best-selling book Built to Last.

Here are the four steps to defining core values with specific behaviors:

1. Identify the “Culture Ambassadors”
The first step is for the leadership team (LT) to individually identify the top five people in the company (outside the LT) they would send to Mars to represent the best of the company's culture to a group of Martians who don’t speak English. You aren't looking for what these people say about your culture; you are looking for how they behave.

Each LT member writes down the specific characteristics that make these individuals ambassadors. When the team shares these names and traits, you aren't looking for common people, but common themes of traits. These themes reveal the values that are already real and noble within your organization, rather than aspirational slogans.

2. Pass the Core Value Litmus Test
Once you have identified potential values, they must pass a rigorous three-part test to be considered "Core." A value is only core if:

• You would fire for it: Would you remove a persistent offender, even if they were a high producer?
• ​You would take a financial hit for it: Would you walk away from a profitable customer or supplier who violated this value, for the sole reason that it’s “not right” and hurts your culture?
• It is real today: Are there people on the LT and in the company who clearly live this value right now?

Crucially, the CEO must fully believe in each value. If the CEO isn't 100% committed to the hurt of upholding a value, they will never be motivated to hold their team accountable to it. And if their team isn’t living the values, the rest of the organization won’t either.

3. Create Unique and Memorable Phrases
To prevent values from sounding trite or like a corporate fad, create a brief, 3-to-5-word memorable phrase for each one. This phrase should reflect the day-to-day speak of your company. For example, instead of just saying "Integrity," you might use "Do the right thing".

Keeping the phrase short ensures it is memorable and can be used in hallways and meetings. Putting the original value word in brackets right after the phrase provides clarity, while the unique phrase provides the soul of the organization.

4. Define Tangible, Observable Behaviors
The final step is to define three specific behaviors for each core value. To save time, use AI as a starting point. Provide the AI with your industry and company size, and ask it to generate tangible and observable behaviors for your specific values.

​The moment of truth happens in the editing. The LT and CEO must rigorously review and adjust every word of these drafts to ensure they reflect exactly how they expect people to behave. If you don't do the hard work of making these behaviors your own, you won't have the conviction to enforce them. And if you don’t enforce them, no one will take them seriously and your culture will erode, along with performance.

Does your executive team have a shared language for your culture? Or do you struggle with cliché values that don't drive behavior? 

Contact me for the AI prompt I use with my clients to generate draft core values behaviours. Email me or contact me on my website. Or complete the form in this article.

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If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.