Core company values: defining your own and making them count

Company values, AKA core values, are the guiding principles that define how a business operates, influencing employee behaviour and customer expectations.

Today, many companies prioritise purpose alongside profit, leading to more engaged staff, loyal customers and satisfied stakeholders. Strong core values, combined with a good company culture and attractive employee benefits can go a long way in attracting, hiring and retaining employees.

But defining your values is just the first step. The real challenge is how you live up to them, as the way you embody your values will directly impact your internal culture and customer trust. In other words, it’s about practising what you preach and proving your commitments through consistent actions.

We’ve created this guide to help you define your company values, explore their importance in business operations and understand how they can benefit your organisation. You can also find actionable steps to ensure your values are consistently reflected in the way you do business, helping you foster a strong culture, build trust and achieve greater business success.

What are company values and why are they important?

Company values are a list of defining principles to which the entire team commits, in order to reach a common business goal. Examples include “being a force for good” or “trading with integrity”.

It’s important not to get your values confused with your mission statement or vision, as both of these concepts are used to describe where your business wants to go. On the other hand, your values describe what you are and how you act now in your day-to-day operations.

Company values are important for:

• Defining your company’s identity: Values serve as the foundation of your business, including its mission, vision and how it’s perceived by both employees and customers. Your values create a unique brand persona that distinguishes itself from competitors and resonates with your target audience.
• Guiding decision-making: Values are like a guide for both leaders and employees, influencing any choices made and ensuring alignment with the company’s goals. By providing a clear framework for actions, values help to resolve dilemmas, prioritise initiatives and maintain consistency across departments.
• Building your company culture: Your organisational culture should be built around your core values. Having clear values will help foster a positive work culture and improve employee engagement by creating an environment where everyone shares the same principles.
• Earning customer trust: When a company consistently lives by its values, it builds trust and credibility for its customers. By putting your values into practice, you can reassure customers that they are supporting a band that aligns with their own values and beliefs.
• Attracting and retaining talent: A values-driven company appeals to individuals who share those principles, helping to attract and retain top talent. When employees resonate with a company’s core values, they’re more likely to feel a sense of belonging and commitment to the organisation.
  

Benefits of company values

Every business owner knows their venture should have core values. From tech giants like Apple and OpenAI to small startup ventures, you’d be hard pushed to find a corporation that hasn’t designed their own, usually showcased in a special glass case on their websites.

Still, the motivation for doing so can be less clear. Are company values just an example of groupthink? Are entrepreneurs piling onto something they don’t really need?

In short, no. Company values exist to direct staff and senior leaders towards a common goal, showing them what success in their role looks like.

If applied correctly, they work to improve morale and optimise workforce productivity. That means values-led companies can enjoy many advantages, including:

• Increased employee retention: When employees connect with a company’s values, they’re more likely to stay, in turn reducing turnover and the associated costs of hiring and training new staff.
• Improved company culture: Core values can help to create a strong work environment where employees work together towards a common goal, leading to better morale, teamwork and engagement.
• Better relationship with customers: By being consistent in living up to your core values, you can build more credibility and trust with your customers – making them more likely to remain loyal to your brand and recommend it to others
• Enhanced productivity: Employees who understand and embody core values are often more motivated and productive, which means better performance overall.
  

How to communicate company values

To get the most out of your company values, they should be relayed both internally and externally. Depending on who is being spoken to, the language and method used will differ.

Internal communication

When sharing values with staff, make sure to prioritise clarity and accessibility.

Don’t bury your values in a forgotten HR folder. Instead, you should present them clearly – ideally in a concise, one-page document that’s shared during onboarding and regularly reinforced in the workplace, such as through team meetings, training sessions and internal newsletters.

You shouldn’t let your values sit unused either, as they can shape initiatives or campaigns that actively engage employees. For example, if kindness is one of your core values, offering charity or volunteer days can reinforce that principle.

External communication

Externally, it’s all about how your customers perceive you, so it’s important to integrate your values into all your marketing and branding efforts. Your values should be visible across every platform – your website, social media and email campaigns. Customers want to see that you practice what you preach, so you should highlight them prominently.

Values should also be considered when working with suppliers or partners. You should choose companies with principles that align with yours to maintain consistency in how your brand is represented.

Accountability and transparency

Be transparent about your progress. For example, if you claim to have inclusion as a value but don’t have a neurodiversity policy in place, you should acknowledge the gap and show a plan for improvement.

Admitting these faults and committing to growth demonstrates authenticity and a commitment to continuous development, which resonates more with stakeholders than pretending to be perfect.

How to choose your company values

Here’s where it might seem fun to pull out a dictionary and start highlighting adjectives like an English teacher on steroids – but resist this urge.

Defining your company values will require a managed, procedural approach. Try to think of it as a step-by-step process to uncover the core pillars that are already there, rather than a blank canvas.

Step 1: Reflect on your company’s purpose and mission

Start by reflecting on the deeper purpose of your business. Ask yourself why your company exists and what long term impact you want it to have. Your core values should align with this vision and guide your actions towards achieving it.

Step 2: Brainstorm with key stakeholders

Gather all the key players, team members and stakeholders (if any) and sit down for a brainstorming session. Compile a list of between 20-30 principles that you think are most important for your business to achieve its goals. This collaborative approach will ensure the values represent the entire organisation and resonate with all levels.

Step 3: Conduct a values audit

Next, begin your audit. Consolidate the values you have recorded and combine any that or too similar or may overlap. Think about wording too, and whether you want to limit each point to a one-word label, or a longer, customised clause.

Step 4: Ensure alignment with goals and culture

Now that you have your chosen values, you’ll need to check that they align with your business goals and the culture you want to create. Ask yourself whether these values will guide decision-making, employee behaviour and company growth.

Step 5: Define each value clearly

Core values shouldn’t just be empty words. Each value should have a clear explanation of what it is and what it means in the context of your business. This will help employees and stakeholders understand how these values should be applied in everyday work.

Step 6: Communicate your values

Once you’ve finalised your chosen values, communicate them across the organisation and ensure to integrate them into all of your business operations, such as hiring, onboarding and performance management. Make sure leaders and employees embody them consistently.

Step 7: Evaluate and refine over time

Company values aren’t totally set in stone, as they may need to evolve as the business grows or the market changes. That’s why it’s important to regularly review your values to ensure they remain relevant and continue to support your goals and company culture.

Tips for defining your company values

How to embed your company values

Embedding company values is essential for ensuring they go beyond words on paper and become lived day to day. These are the steps you can take to ensure your values are fully integrated into your business operations.

• Tailor your hiring strategy: Hire employees who share your values. You can also design recruitment processes to reflect values, using job descriptions and interview questions to assess fit, or using hypothetical scenarios in interviews to evaluate key values (eg honesty or teamwork).
• Re-evaluate your rewards system: Tie your values to employee performance, and make sure to recognise and reward those who embody them. For example, replacing traditional rewards like “employee of the month” with “values champions” who serve as ambassadors. Make sure to publicly commute this to inspire the broader team, and that leaders model these values to encourage more adoption.
• Consider your KPIs: Use key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure how well your company is embodying its values. Track both quantitative data (eg customer service metrics) and qualitative feedback (eg employee surveys) and try to find a balance between data and the human side of employee experience.
• Be mindful of marketing: Incorporate your values into your marketing efforts to differentiate your brand from competitors. Focus on value-driven aspects like ethical production or employee stories, rather than generic promotions. You should also use your values to create original and meaningful campaigns that resonate with customers.

Read more about embedding your company values here.

Conclusion

Establishing and embedding strong company values is essential for shaping your organisation’s identity, guiding decision-making and building a positive company culture.

Core values differentiate your brand in a competitive market and build customer trust and employee engagement. By clearly defining and communicating these values internally and externally, you can ensure they’re not just words, but principles that drive your everyday actions.

When aligned with your goals and lived by, your values will enhance productivity, attract top talent and strengthen relationships with customers and stakeholders, leading to greater long term success.

To narrow it down, here are our top five recommendations for designing and embedding company values:

1. Use your existing brand to inspire your values, not the other way around
2. Be truthful about where you are in your values journey
3. Communicate values across every channel, internal and external
4. Embed values in the entire people process, from recruitment to employment
5. Don’t be afraid to update your values to stay ahead of the competition