I used to think Core values were a bunch of airy fairy la la land words that Dilbert made fun of. And there were a few reasons for this:

1. There are far too many bland, empty, toothless core value statements that adorn the walls of companies across North America
2. There are far too few companies who actually do anything with their core values. That is, they don’t live them.

And the truth is, your core values mean nothing if you don’t work to bring them alive. In fact they work against you. Empty value statements that aren’t lived creates cynical employees and it undermines your leadership credibility.

So what stops us from bringing our core values alive inside of our companies?

1. We don’t know how to. There is no guidebook on how to live your core values. Jim Collins in Built to Last told us that we needed them, but didn’t tell us how the great companies practiced them.
2. Living your core values takes guts. The bottom line is that, when properly practiced, values inflict pain. Why? Because if you pick the right core values, it will actually limit you in what you can do. Remember, your core values are your non negotiable rules of how things are done in your company. They are the rules that will guide the actions of you and your employees.

Walt Disney said that when your core values are clear, decisions become easy. That is true, except for one thing: It may be clear to know what you should do, but do you actually have the guts to do it? What decisions should you be making now but are avoiding? How will this affect your culture if you don’t do it?

This entry was posted on August 17, 2010 at 2:14 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in core values Culture by admin No Comments Yet