How Well Do You Live Out Your Core Values?

Sometimes there’s a gap between what we say our core values are and how they actually play out in reality. Often companies say they uphold a certain set of attitudes or behaviors, but when you talk to their staff or customers, you find out they come across completely different. There’s a disconnect.

A company that I used to work for had a core value: People come first.

But when I sat down in one-on-ones with the staff, I heard:

• I feel small.

• I don’t trust leadership.

• There’s fear on the team.

The reality was that a disconnect existed between the stated core values and how they were carried out. As leaders, we’re responsible for how those core values look on our teams. There are two principles that can help you match behavior to expectation.

Lowest Common Denominator

A team is only as healthy as its least healthy individual. When new people join a team, they benchmark themselves against the lowest common denominator. We can have amazing onboarding and clearly communicate our core values, but if newcomers join the team only to find a ton of gossip and negativity, then they will quickly identify that reality as the actual culture.

One of my favorite restaurants understands this at a fundamental level. I sat down with the owners a couple of weeks ago and asked about the amazing culture that they had built. They didn’t tell me about amazing training programs or social events or perks. Their secret was high standards for their people. They had fired 10 people in their first year. The head cook wasn’t kind to the staff, so he was let go. Waitstaff took advantage of the laid-back environment, so they didn’t last either. Leadership wanted a healthy culture where the core values were lived out by every person on their team, so they took the necessary steps to make that happen.

Your people are what drive your culture, so take a good look at who you bring on board.

Leaders Are Not Exempt

No one is so important that they do not need to follow the behavioral norms. In fact, it is probably most important for leaders to live out the core values. Our teams take their cues from their leaders.

Having a leader who hides the truth, moves slowly, shifts blame, and has a “Corner Office Mentality” will destroy the culture.

Leaders need to be willing to have the hard, awkward conversations that keep the behavioral norms at the forefront.

If you want proactive communication to be a norm, but find that you are often surprised, be willing to dig to find out where opportunities for communication were missed.

If you want your team to move fast and be agile, but inboxes are full and notifications keep piling up, ask what can be done to pick up the pace.

Taking ownership is a great norm and easy to live out when it comes to the wins, but if you find that no one steps up when things go poorly, be specific and ask what part of that mistake was owned by each member of your team.

Core values are more than just aspirational ideals. They should be backed up and supported by behavioral norms to ensure every team member matches expectation with behavior. 

If someone were to peak behind the curtain, how well does your staff’s behavior align with your organization's core values? 

MT

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