As a business owner, there’s no golden rule when it comes to creating a list of core values for your company.
One thing is for sure, every aspect of your business should be guided by these core values.
Your company’s mission, vision, and purpose are embodied in these beliefs and fundamental principles, which communicates to your employees and customers alike exactly how your business operates.
We’re going to take a look at five outstanding examples of company core values that have helped to shape their culture and make them stand out. We’ll dig into how these values can and should be woven into your organisation, and how they contribute to building a workplace that’s both positive and productive. So, let’s dive in!
What are Company Core Values?
Company values (also called corporate values or core values) are the set of guiding principles and fundamental beliefs that help a group of people function together as a team and work toward a common business goal. These values are often related to business relationships, customer relationships, and company growth.
While mission and vision statements define where you’re going, core values are all about what you are. As David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, once wrote: “Whereas purpose provides the juice and the direction, principles define the parameters of action and the criteria for excellence of behavior.”
In short, company core values should:
- Accurately describe your organisation
- Differentiate you from your competitors
- Be championed and demonstrated by all leaders
- Regularly be taught, reinforced, and rewarded among all employees
Research conducted by Glassdoor found that culture and values, senior leadership and career opportunities were the most important factors for overall workplace satisfaction.
A company’s values define what matters most to it. Every employee should understand, work towards, and live by its purpose. By defining and promoting your values, employees can understand what is expected of them to succeed.
5 Examples of Company Core Values
Which distinguishes an average company from one that is loved by its employees? In other words, the company whose Glassdoor reviews consist of complaints versus the company that’s a “Best Place to Work” winner.
A company’s core values contribute significantly to its culture. These are the distinctive qualities of your business that should never be compromised. Here’s the million-dollar question: what makes a great core value? 🤔
To get us started, here are some top-notch core value examples that we love from a great group of companies!
1. Starbucks
When Starbucks first opened, it saw the value of relationships, not just with its clients but also with the baristas and staff that today make up its diverse workforce on a global scale. The company values of the multinational coffee corporation include:
- Acting with courage, challenging the status quo and finding new ways to grow the company and each other
- Being present, connecting with transparency, dignity and respect
- Creating a culture of warmth and belonging, where everyone is welcome
- Delivering the best in all they do, holding themselves accountable for results
Because of this emphasis on connection, Starbucks refers to its employees as “partners,” reiterating the idea that each one of them has a part in the success of the business as a whole. This is a great example of company core values that are more than just words on an ‘About Us’ page, but fully ingrained into everyday business operations.
2. Microsoft’s Simple Yet Effective Corporate Values
Respect. Integrity. Accountability. Microsoft’s values align with its mission, supports its culture, and serves as a declaration of how they treat each other, its customers, and its partners.
They break down their definition of these three words as follows:
Respect: We recognize that the thoughts, feelings, and backgrounds of others are as important as our own
Integrity: We are honest, ethical, and trustworthy
Accountability: We accept full responsibility for our decisions, actions, and results
As Microsoft Partners, we can back up how these values are demonstrated across the whole Microsoft ecosystem and experience.
Although the core values might seem too simple at first – it embodies the easy-to-understand sentiment that resonates through not only Microsoft’s internal structure but its products, branding and services too. We love this example for how unambiguous it is.
3. Patagonia’s Promise
On its 50th anniversary, Patagonia’s leadership revisited and updated its core values to reflect who they want to be over the next fifty years. This is a spectacular example of how core values can naturally evolve from mission and vision statements.
Focusing on quality, integrity, environmentalism, equity, and not being bound by convention, Patagonia’s values are:
- Be just, equitable and antiracist as a company and in our community
- Build the best product, provide the best service and constantly improve everything we do
- Do it our way
- Examine our practices openly and honestly, learn from our mistakes and meet our commitments
- Protect our home planet
As transparent as Patagonia themselves, there’s no question to what this global outdoor clothing retailer values.
4. Google’s 10 things we know to be true
Such an influential business needs killer corporate values, and Google does not disappoint.
They refer to their values as ten things we know to be true, which were originally written when Google was in its infancy:
- Focus on the user and all else will follow.
- It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
- Fast is better than slow.
- Democracy on the web works.
- You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
- You can make money without doing evil.
- There’s always more information out there.
- The need for information crosses all borders.
- You can be serious without a suit.
- Great just isn’t good enough.
Google has a corresponding paragraph fully explaining each of these tenets in detail. What we love most about this example is how clear it is that Google takes their values extremely seriously, and holds their employees to the highest standards.
Google also mentions that they revisit their values to ensure they are still in keeping with the company’s goals, OKRs and mission.
5. Our Core Values at There Be Giants
Here at There Be Giants, we practice what we preach. It wouldn’t be right for us to talk about the importance of strong company values and not share our own.
Stand Tall: Some of us maybe more vertically challenged than others, but this is more about attitude and confidence. We believe in standing out from the crowd and we do this by being forward-thinking and credible.
Be Real: We don’t do bullshit. You will know where you stand with us and while we love to get excited about potential, we always keep our feet on the ground and keep it human.
Think Big: We see the bigger picture. How things connect, our wider impact and the possibilities ahead. That fuels our ambition to be the best at what we do and to create value for those around us.
Strive To Be Better: There’s no such thing as the finished product, there’s always room to innovate. That’s why we constantly refine and improve what we do and how we do it so everyone benefits more.
We’re proud to stand behind these values and call them our own. From our internal processes to working which clients, you’ll see them in action.
How Core Values Shape Company Culture
In addition to enhancing brand perception and trust in your company, a company’s values can profoundly impact internal workplace culture and employee engagement – and even performance.
The unsurprising truth is that employees who identify strongly with your company’s core values are more likely to remain satisfied and engaged with your organisation, thus increasing overall performance and giving your company a competitive advantage.
Today’s workforce wants to work towards a common goal and make a difference in their organisation and beyond. According to Gallup’s report, companies with a highly engaged workforce are 21% more profitable than those with a disengaged workforce. A stat not easily ignored in this climate.
Leaders need to focus on building a culture that aligns with company values. A pool table and free snacks on a Friday just won’t cut it. Making values the crux of organisational culture should be a priority of any business looking to motivate its employees.
In an ideal world, a company’s core values are distinctly defined to the point where all decision-making is done through the lens of those values, even down to the hiring process.
At the very least, your core values should act as the framework through which you hire new employees and handle human resources, and they should be specific enough to attract the people that embody those values. For instance, a company that values collaboration and teamwork should strive to build teams who thrive when they work together and create a positive working environment.
To summarise, the creation of value-centred experiences must be conscious and intentional. It starts with specific, unified values.
Communicating Company Core Values
Core values, by nature, are definitional. If you cannot translate your values into meaningful actions and examples, it can actually lead to a feeling of inauthenticity, which will be more detrimental for employee engagement than not having them at all.
Communicating company values effectively can start with involving employees in the process of defining them. There’s a level of psychological safety needed for this to be an effective exercise. Everyone in the room should be seen as one team, and narrow down your core values list to a few consensus areas, such as “intuitive” or “creative.”
Then, set the list of values aside and revisit them in a few weeks or even a month. If the team still agrees with the value statements and they hold up, you’re in good shape.
To help your core values stick, time will need to be dedicated to educate your workforce on what they mean and how they translate into expected behaviours. If you’re rolling out newly defined core values to an existing team, look to incorporate training into personal development sessions.
This can help them relate the values to their present work performance and serve as an opportunity for growth and self-improvement in line with the new values.
Remember that these values determine behaviour for every single person in the organisation, not just leadership. That means they need to be in a format that facilitates easy access and understanding for everybody.
Incorporating Core Values into Company Processes
There’s no doubt that bringing your core values to life is tricky. It’s one thing to define words and phrases that speak to your organisation, but another to embed it into company processes.
One of the most effective ways to incorporate core values is by encouraging company leaders to communicate these values at every opportunity. Integrating them into training, performance evaluations, recognition programs, and decision-making processes.
Regularly reinforcing your values through communication, events, and leadership actions ensures they remain a central part of the organisation and its decisions. Just as importantly, if employees display any conflicting behaviours, these should be dealt with and managed accordingly.
Publically rewarding the employees who demonstrate your company values in their work will go far beyond delighting that individual alone; your appreciation will act as an example to other team members and encourage them to exhibit similar behaviours.
By encouraging peer recognition too, you’ll be able to ensure positive behaviour doesn’t go unnoticed, and it’ll have the bonus effect of encouraging staff to live by the values as they’re looking out for them in others. Whatever way you decide to show your appreciation and reward your team, be sure to do so regularly and in a timely manner to provide the most impact and positive reinforcement.
Taking the time to consider how your core values are reflected in the day to day operation of your business allows employees to be aware of what behaviours management are keen to see and why it’s important to the overall success of your organisation.
If you’re new to the concept of defining your values and transforming your company culture, you may be worth considering the support of a culture change consultant. Essentially, culture consulting takes the hard work out of culture transformation and manages the process for you.
A culture change consultant will guide you from the initial planning stages right through to implementation and provide ongoing support as you settle into this new way of working.
Conclusion
With these excellent examples to guide you, you’re ready to start evaluating your own core values to build alignment throughout your organisation. Consider where your company started, where it is today, and where you want to be in the future.
If you haven’t yet decided on your company’s values, this would be a great opportunity to lead a research process to determine the informal values that currently exist inside your organisation. They may help you adopt and promote a formalised set of core values throughout your organisation.
Initiating a company culture change isn’t a decision to be taken lightly – and there are lots to consider before you take the plunge. Our useful guide takes you through the 7 principles you’ll need to consider when crafting a healthier culture – essential for fostering receptivity to change.
Or you can speak to us today for candid, friendly expert guidance on enhancing company culture and performance.