Two common problems organizations face in defining values occur when they are designing the statements and putting them into action. Companies err by failing to boil their messages down to a few core statements or words. As a result, values statements become a laundry list pledging to be everything to everybody. In one extreme case, a Canadian utility handed out pocket-sized folders to its thousands of employees listing the organization’s 36 values. Anything beyond three to four core values is of no value at all. As with so many issues of strategy and culture, executives need to set priorities about what’s really important to the organization. Core values are those few words or short statements that act as central hooks on which to hang the key behavioral guidelines that shape everyone’s actions.
Down to the Core
Keys for strengthening your company’s core values