Stating values isn't always a useful practice. For some companies, public values can actually do more harm than good.
We've all seen it happen. A company takes a stand for something in a public way and days, weeks, months, or years later they behave in a way that's contradictory with their stated values. Backlash ensues in the 24-hour news cycle and their reputation is tinged with betrayal, hypocrisy, and a newfound distrust.
Or there's the scenario of ongoing, year-over-year contradiction between stated values and behavior. Patagonia is a classic example of this and they're deeply aware of it. They hold the aspiration of being environmental activists, while being an apparel company that inherently has to extract resources to operate. Their published impact reports show they're far off from having a net zero, much less positive, impact. They know they hold this contradiction, and to be fair, they continually seek innovative ways to remedy it.
But it's also important to recognize that in the dominant U.S. culture, we aren't very skilled at holding contradiction, nuance, and complexity. When people or organizations take a stand for something they believe in, we expect them to never falter. We expect the circumstances to remain such that they can always maintain full commitment to their values. Or we expect them to maintain that commitment, regardless of the circumstances.
What a lot of people and companies don't realize is practicing our values is not the default mode, it's the advanced mode. It's an ongoing practice and it requires ongoing refinement as we gather new information. Because the reality is, running a for-profit business puts us up against a lot of ethical dilemmas. Where and how do we source materials? How much do we pay people versus how much do we keep in profit? What is the impact of our product on society? Do we follow traditional business advice or do we take a risk and do what feels more ethical? We are constantly weighing the pros and cons of our decisions. We are constantly making compromises.
This is why values matter so much. They help us articulate what’s most important to us and how important it is compared to other things. If we aren’t clear on this, it’s a lot harder to cast vision and make decisions that keep us in our integrity. But it’s also hard to keep those values front and center if we don’t build them into the day-to-day policies and practices of the company. Just because they exist somewhere on a piece of paper, doesn’t mean we live them.
So how do we live by our values? Here are three steps.
1. Identify fully aligned values
Good values align with your purpose in a deep and meaningful way. Making sure you’re committed to the right values is essential for successfully implementing them. If you already know your values you can skip this step, but if you don’t have any values identified, or if you’re not sure they’re the right ones, here are a few methods to clarify what values are right for you and your company.
Dare to Lead List of Values by Brené Brown
This resource is an example of one way people approach choosing their values - with a big list that they gradually whittle down. Start by going through this list and choose 15 that resonate with you. Then lessen it to 10. Then lessen it to 5. And finally, choose 2-3 core values.
A Renaissance of Our Own: A Memoir & Manifesto on Reimagining by Rachel E. Cargle
In Chapter 1 of this book Cargle shares the process she went through to identify her personal core values. The process requires reflection, writing, and intention. By the end of this process, Cargle ended up with three core values.
Collaging
For visual people, the process of collaging may help uncover your core values. Get some magazines that you enjoy reading and let your creativity take over. Take words, phrases, and images from the magazines and arrange them on a large piece of paper or poster board. When you’ve finished creating the collage, take note of the themes and patterns that emerge. Then identify 2-3 core values from there.
It will likely take some time to truly identify aligned values because it requires the space and time to be reflective. This isn’t a process to rush through. But if done well, it will pay dividends when it comes time to make hard decisions.
2. Identify the behaviors that align with the values
A big part of culture building is co-creating norms within the group. When companies give their teams a list of a few words and say ‘live by these’, they aren’t really setting them up for success. It’s important to set expectations, on all sides, about how those values translate into behaviors within the context of the company setting. Here’s a resource on how to identify 3-4 behaviors that support each core value.
Operationalizing Your Organization’s Values by Brené Brown
This is a great resource that gives step-by-step instructions for a collaborative process you can do with your team to identify the behaviors that align with your company’s core values. I like this process because it’s experiential and collaborative, so the learnings are more likely to be absorbed by your team.
3. Integrate the values and behaviors into company processes
Now that you have your core values identified and a list of behaviors that align with those values, don’t just stick it in Google Drive and forget about it. Integrate it into the processes of your business. Here are some examples of how to do this.
Job Descriptions
It’s likely that a number of the value-aligned behaviors you identified are “soft” skills or “human connection” skills. These are just as valuable as “hard” skills or “technical” skills. In job descriptions we tend to list out a lot of technical skills, but when issues arise from team interpersonal dynamics it’s the human connection skills that really matter. So hire for them, practice them, and assess them just like you would the technical skills. Add the value-aligned behaviors to the job descriptions of existing team members and new hires.
Performance Reviews
Add the value-aligned behaviors to your performance review process so there can be feedback about what’s working well and where there’s room for improvement. Also give team members the opportunity to give feedback about how their manager and the company as a whole is practicing these behaviors.
Team Policies & Processes
Reference your core values and behaviors when creating policies and processes for team members (i.e. paid time off, communication expectations, project management systems, etc.) Filter the policies through your values - do the policies encourage the value-aligned behaviors?
Services and/or Products
Strong values are an important part of deciding what products and/or services to develop. We can waste a lot of time, energy, money, and emotion developing things that aren’t value-aligned. And this mis-match can be obvious to our customers and our community. When deciding what to develop next, filter the ideas through your values to make sure it’s a worthwhile investment.
Community Guidelines & Customer Service
The “human connection” skills of value-aligned behaviors are relevant in the customer-facing aspects of business, just as they are in the team-facing aspects. Values are largely about how we behave in our relationships. So go through your list of values and behaviors and pull out the ones that are relevant for community guidelines and/or customer service policies. Use your values as a compass when interacting with customers.Marketing & Communication Strategy
Marketing doesn’t have the best track record of being “ethical.” While a lot of marketing is manipulative, at its core marketing is about effectively communicating with the people you want to serve. So the task here is to make sure you’re communicating (marketing) in a way that aligns with your values. Filter your marketing practices through your values and aligned behaviors.
Budget
Where we distribute our money matters. In a capitalist society, it speaks volumes. We can profess the most perfect values, but if the money doesn’t follow there’s likely a disconnect between values and behavior. So allocating your money in a way that supports your values is an incredibly important part of a for-profit business.Business Structure
There is a growing movement towards business structures like B Corporations, Workers Cooperatives, and Employee Ownership. This is all about values. There are many ways to do business and sometimes it’s appropriate to change the business structure in order to more deeply align with your values.
Intentionally building a culture requires practicing the desired behaviors until they become second nature. Sometimes we luck out and those behaviors happen automatically, without needing a lot of attention. Coming together in group settings, whether it’s with your team or customers, is sometimes seamless and sometimes really hard. Most of us need to continually practice and refine our values and the behaviors that support them as we learn from our experiences. But it’s worth the time and effort because strong values are the foundational building blocks of a strong culture.
Good Reads
How a Worker-Owned Tech Startup Found Investors - And Kept Its Values by Nathan Schneider
‘We’ve lost the right to be pessimistic’: Patagonia treads fine line tackling climate crisis as for-profit company by Lauren Aratani
A Renaissance of Our Own: A Memoir & Manifesto on Reimagining by Rachel E. Cargle
Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown