What’s the business case for developing company values?

Like it or not your company culture is something that already exists. The issue at hand is whether it’s the culture you want in place, is it the best it can be, does it serve the needs of the staff, the customers and the bottom line?

With a clear set of values in place – ones that are lived, recognised and respected – you can ensure a robust and sustainable foundation to define, implement and celebrate the culture that will deliver business success.

• So, if defining your values is good business, how might we benchmark and measure the return on investment?
  • Improved eNPS and employee engagement scores – and ideally we overlay them across other HR data such as higher productivity, lower absence, lower ER issues, lower unwanted attrition.
  • Higher levels of employee advocacy and employee referral.
  • Customer NPS scores, higher customer value, fewer complaints.
  • Greater return from staff generated ideas.
  • Lower recruitment costs as you define and shape a magnet brand for talent.
  • Success in role – more effective, better fit, better enabled staff.
  • Greater collaboration between teams and departments as measured by pulse or annual surveys.

How do I develop my vision, mission and values?

The vision and mission are generally gleaned from speaking with the senior leaders in the business during one-to-one sessions, whereas the values will be formed based on results from a dedicated survey that ensures everyone across the business has a voice, and/or discussions with representative groups of employees through workshops and focus groups sessions. Therefore, the golden rule is that the vision and mission development need to follow a top-down approach, whereas values need to be bottom-up.

• Purpose

  People will always emotionally engage with the ‘why’ above the ‘what’ you do. What are you here for and why does it really matter? A strong purpose will unite and inspire your staff to achieve both pride and fulfilment in the great work you do together – and in particular, the impact you have on the lives of your various stakeholders.

• Vision

  We describe this as your preferred state of the future. What do you want the organisation to be like in the future?

• Mission

  This is the ‘how’ you will achieve the vision? What do you do? Who for? And how is it characterised?

• Values

  What your staff bring to work every day to get the job done. The behavioural compass that underpins the culture and how you interact with each other, customers and the world beyond.

What’s the process to develop a vision, mission and values?

• Objectives

  This is key. Investing in and articulating your vision, mission and values is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Clear, measurable objectives should be set at the outset of the programme, as well as specific metrics that should be worked towards in order to deliver success.

• Discovery

  The development of your new vision, mission and values needs to be based on a foundation of fact to ensure that all decisions are informed.

  Firstly, we would suggest meeting with key senior stakeholders on a one-to-one basis and conducting workshops or focus groups with a representative group of existing staff across the business. Partly to hear their views on the journey so far and the journey to come, but also as visible proof of the intent to change.

  We would then suggest running an all staff values survey to ensure that everyone has a voice and to fully understand their perception as to what the culture is, the ways of working and the spirit that flows through the people and their interactions.

  We know that this feedback provides invaluable insight across the company as a whole and within designated groups differentiated by location, role, department and length of service. Valuable verbatim quotes can also be gathered during this stage to use as testimonial material for future workstreams.

• Development

  From the discovery exercise, the vision, mission and values can be clearly defined to help drive a unified, forward-facing business, while also helping to create the perception of an attractive employer in the external talent market.

  In this element of the programme, a range of creative options for the vision, mission and values are developed with rationales for review and discussion. They are assessed, refined and reviewed until they are authentically you, sense checking and validating these with the key stakeholders and representative staff to ensure they are relevant and authentic. A final version can then be finessed, then presented back to the team. Once defined, it’s then time to work on the launch and implementation – the research should inform how they are shaped and shared.

• Launch

  Launching your new vision, mission and values is a unique opportunity to recognise ‘what’s got you to here’ and, critically, set the expectation and context for the journey to come with clarity, focus and some excitement. It should be an inclusive, engaging and motivating watershed moment.

• Embed

  Vision, mission and values are just words on a poster if you don’t work hard to embed them at every stage on the employment lifecycle. Right from setting your reputation upstream in talent markets, to attraction, onboarding, induction, personal development, recognition and more.

  Your staff will be clear on what they need to bring to work every day to get the job done and invest in the culture you are evolving. Equally, your managers will be aligned and equipped to deliver the employment experience that enables that success.

  The discovery will give us a unique insight into both the greatest opportunities and potential pitfalls in how values are embedded and understood.

• Measure

  Vision, mission and values are good business and therefore require good business planning around them. Clear objectives and robust implementation. Having set those objectives it’s important to measure the effectiveness of the execution and adapt/finesse as necessary.

How long does it take to develop a vision, mission and values?

The process typically takes anywhere between 4 to 12 weeks, dependent on the amount of discovery needed and stakeholder availability for the discovery sessions, presentations, validation and feedback, and final sign off.

How do I ensure we get authenticity?

All decisions throughout the process should be based on a solid foundation of fact. To be truly authentic, the values need to be built from the bottom-up using all staff surveys and focus groups. This will also ensure that every employee across the business has a voice and is involved in the creation of the new values. Additional focus groups can also be used to verify and validate throughout the process, ensuring the authenticity hasn’t been lost. They can also help to gain buy in and sign off the final version.

How do I launch the new vision, mission and values?

Implementation should be internal before it goes external. Your people need to buy into, understand, live and breathe the new vision, mission and values if they are to be able to become its articulate and effective advocates.

The launch is always a great opportunity to generate pride and engagement and to generate a connection with all existing employees. This could be done via a presentation, a video or animation or a launch event if budget allows. Every business is different, and every situation is different. We can discuss the best way to launch for your business so that people can easily understand the new vision, mission and values, why they’re important and how they will make a difference.

How do I embed new values across the business?

To ensure the new vision, mission and values are fully embedded, lived and understood by everyone in the business, especially leaders and managers, it is important that they are discussed and interacted with regularly. Awareness needs to be high and they should be celebrated at every opportunity.