Core Values? Who Gives A Crap?

Pop quiz: When did you last think about your company’s vision and core values? Can you repeat any of them? Are they something your employees joke about with fellow new hires when they are stuck in the boredom of training? When they watch that video and hear the lecture from leaders about your company’s core values, do they believe in them? 

Or let’s look at it from another perspective: do you, as a leader, feel cheesy giving the speech about your core values? Do you cringe at the thought that you have become the human equivalent of just another motivational poster? In today’s environment, there is more of a disconnect than ever between firm owners and leaders and employees. Do your employees believe and know the actual core values of your company? Do you, as an owner or manager, even believe in them when you are reciting them? In other words: do you give a crap?

Organizations need first to study what their employees’ values actually are and what they are looking for in a company’s values. When you say “integrity,” it might have 20 different meanings for you and your team. When you say “transparency,” how much transparency are you looking for? How about your team? Some say the “bare minimum,” while some want “full disclosure.” Where are the “mediums”? By having a few breakout groups and using open-ended questions to lead the discussions, you can see what the employees’ ideas are and what they value. Blumer & Associates did this and challenged their employees to help create the values that inspire the way we serve our firm and our clients.

Ok, so you get the feedback. You have the ideas. Publishing them is one of the easiest things you can do. But how do you live by them? How do you encourage the employees to value them and to live by them, without being cheesy? If you have a high level of trust from your employees, let’s face it, you won’t have a hard time. But if you don’t, you will face an uphill battle. You will need to focus on the most essential foundations and start from there. 

Many times, communication and transparency are lacking. Scroll through any social media app. What are former employees saying about their firm? Poor communication and lack of transparency are two common complaints. The rise of social media has led to many past employees highlighting the fact of their company’s shortcomings. So, if you want to get your employees to care, you better be prepared to set the standards.

If you tell your team that communication is important, you must demonstrate this by simply communicating with them. Start by giving them information and having them respond with a question or comment. Set the standard and the expectation.

So practically speaking, how exactly do you do this? Here are a few simple steps:

1. Pose an open-ended question to your team and some expectations on how they should answer.
2. Let your employees answer and pose ideas.
3. Gather the ideas and discuss them among your management team.
4. Adopt the best ideas and explain why other ideas can’t be included.
5. Live by what you decide.

The most significant cause of employee distrust, which can lead to a lack of loyalty, is a company that can’t follow through. Making sure to underpromise and overdeliver builds trust. Set the goals to show employees they should care about the core values they helped identify; this lets them know that their voices are heard. Situations may arise that require hard conversations with your employees to solve problems! Make a plan for handling these hard conversations when your values are called into question, and you can’t fail. Employees want to be able to participate and create an environment in which they like to work. By working together, your whole team can build a good foundation of common values.

So, you are on the path to getting your employees to care about your company by setting those standards for existing employees and hiring those new employees who match your values, rather than rushing to fill a spot. Congratulations, you are well on your way to having a firm where everyone displays your core values daily. Celebrate your success! But try to review your core values every two years and ask yourself honestly if they still align with where you are. And don’t limit yourself to a two-year review; review them anytime something occurs that may impact your values and require a rethink. The follow-up is key to showing employees in the end that you all care, and they should, above all, give a crap.