Company values are the guiding principles that shape an organization's culture and define its identity. However, only having values in place is not enough. To truly embed them within the fabric of a team, it is crucial to reinforce and strengthen each member's understanding and commitment.
Below, 19 Newsweek Expert Forum members share effective strategies leaders can use to nurture a values-driven team. These approaches will help solidify the team's understanding of company values and foster a deep sense of commitment.
1. Host Values Workshops
To reinforce our company values, we initiate regular values workshops. During these workshops, team members dissect case studies aligned with our values to foster discussion and increase understanding. It underscores the practicality of our values, instilling commitment and engagement. - Joseph Soares, IBPROM Corp.
2. Link Company Values to Performance Metrics
Add values to your annual performance evaluations and discuss them during positive and constructive feedback conversations throughout the year. You can also reinforce company values by linking them to the success of projects and adding them to your project kickoffs and post-mortems. People will care deeply and embody the values when they know that they're being measured against them. - Loren Margolis, TLS Leaders
3. Design Roles to Prevent Silos
Roles on my team are designed to prevent silos because values and alignment get lost in silos. Specifically, each role is designed so that nobody works completely independently. When people have to interact to successfully complete a project, they have to reconcile their different approaches to the work, which creates opportunities to revisit and confirm their understanding of both the values and goals. - Mylena Sutton, Voltage Vista
4. Start a Book Club
We believe a team that reads together, commits together. Our book club is curated based on our values. For example, we include Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton's biography since we too are navigating uncharted waters in revolutionizing medical research. In preparation for our category design to launch a product for the health and wellness industry, we collectively read Play Bigger together. - Jeff Chen, Radicle Science
5. Make Company Values Top Of Mind
Incorporate the company values into regular team meetings and discussions. By making company values an integral part of everyday conversations, you can ensure that they remain top of mind and help guide decision making and behavior. - Britton Bloch, Navy Federal
6. Weave Values Into All Conversations
Leaders should make consistent efforts to model and interweave the company values into meetings, conversations and projects. Values should be viewed as the foundation that keeps teams unified and in sync. It is essential to introduce and discuss values throughout the hiring process to ensure that potential candidates align with them and understand their importance. - Leah Marone, Corporate Wellness Consultant
7. Set Up Weekly Meetings
Commitment to the company is something we not only require, but also reinforce. I hold weekly meetings and encourage my employees to constantly strive for higher goals and achievements. - Tammy Sons, Tn Nursery
8. Create a Team Mantra
Our team's mantra, "Earth, IS Artifact" serves as the core principle for every project we undertake. Every aspect of the creative design process is beholden to the conviction that all matter of existence, natural phenomena and human endeavor on Earth are unique to the only living artifact in the known universe. Everything from and of the Earth is artifact. - Jeffrey Leffeld, LEDspin, LLC
9. Hire Based on Company Values
We live, discuss, celebrate and hire by our values. If we see a teammate being challenged by our values, we stop immediately and meet with them on the challenge. If it is a challenge the teammate is willing to conquer, we create a plan of action and cheer them on. If it is a challenge they are unwilling to conquer, we say our goodbyes. - Stephanie Arnett, StephArnettMS
10. Make Values Simple and Consumable
Live your values every day in everything you do. If you can't, then perhaps your values are too complicated or abstract and need to be reset so that they are simple, essential and consumable by you and the company. Determine what's important, then practice it every day. - Margie Kiesel, Avaneer Health
11. Post Values in Common Spaces
In order to strengthen understanding and loyalty to company values, I recommend making them visible to the team. Posting them in commonly used spaces is a subtle but powerful method to reinforce desired behaviors. - Tammy McCrory, McCrory Center: Behavioral Health
12. Have an All-Hands Meeting
We have an all-employee meeting every morning and separate routine training sessions. The morning meeting discussions are both tactical and cultural. Everyone is given visibility to everyone else's work and the company's value-based decisions. - Tia Goss Sawhney, Teus Health, LLC.
13. Lead by Example
As a leader, you must embody the company values in all your actions and decisions. This includes participating in events, facilitating communication, participating in team-building exercises and creating a culture of inclusivity and openness. Your company values are not words on paper but rather your organizational identity. - Gergo Vari, Lensa
14. Implement Values Into Projects
One way to strengthen a commitment to company values is to include how they are being implemented in a project. We put these as questions on our initial project sheet as our team is creating and developing the initial project phases and guidelines. The questions are meant to be thought-provoking, like "How can we confirm the final product meets the customer's needs?" - Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure
15. Conduct the Stress-Free Experiment
I invite team members to conduct the Stress-Free Experiment. This simple Stanford-created strategic exercise involves using a pen and paper for 10 minutes to write down your top value and how your top value shows up in your everyday life. My team and I then discuss the alignment between their values and the company's values. We move from interested to invested in the company's values together. - Karen Mangia, Salesforce
16. Ensure Buy-in From Employees
First of all, the employees need to buy into the values. If your company values do not sync with the employee's own values and they are unwilling to accept them, then it will not work. HR will have to discuss that disagreement with the employee. Some employees try to hide their disagreement because they need the paycheck but it doesn't really work for both the company and the employee. - Zain Jaffer, Zain Ventures
17. Hire Employees Who Fit the Culture
It all starts with the hiring process. Finding team members who will be a good culture fit is important because it can have a significant impact on the success of your company. After that, it's all about making sure your team is aligned on a weekly basis by committing to reaching goals that feed into your company values. Solving issues as a team is one way to strengthen this "togetherness." - Ryan Carroll, Wealth Assistants
18. Communicate Values Consistently
One way is through consistent communication and leading by example. Regularly discussing the importance of values and how they guide decision making helps employees internalize and apply them in their work. Additionally, leaders who consistently demonstrate these values in their behavior and decision making serve as role models, reinforcing their importance and inspiring others to do the same. - Dr. Kira Graves, Kira Graves Consulting
19. Encourage Collaboration
Set aside time (in person or virtually) to bring employees together, including time with leadership. The best way for an employee to buy into a company's values is to see their leaders and successful peers living and breathing them. Get people together so they can collaborate, connect and celebrate this culture. Don't just talk about the culture you want—demonstrate and embrace it. - Faisal Pandit, Panasonic Connect North America
