A roadmap for company success
To define them, you need to identify what motivates the leader and the employees. Identify the core values that emerge from the responses and integrate them into the company’s culture.
“Values are the guiding stars that illuminate the path of our choices and the foundation of our character.”
You should choose values that are relevant to the industry, consistent with the mission, and likely to create value for customers and society.
These values should guide the behavior of employees and the decisions of the company.
Why are values important?
They influence internal relationships, business practices, and interactions with stakeholders.
- Guidance and connection: Values guide us on how to behave and bring us closer to the company.
- Morality and motivation: Values help us know what is right and stay motivated to work hard.
- Harmony and atmosphere: Values encourage good understanding, mutual comprehension, and create a pleasant, inspiring, and fun working environment. Values guide culture, behavior, and decisions.
The 3 steps to define core values
- Brainstorm : With employees, managers, clients, partners, etc., to gather their ideas, opinions, expectations, needs, etc.
- Group ideas by themes : Eliminate those that are redundant, contradictory, or less relevant.
- Select between three and five values : that best represent the essence of the company, are easy to understand and communicate, are inspiring and motivating, and are distinctive and unique.
Translating Values into achievable objectives in 4 steps
This is an important step to align your strategy, culture, and performance.
1- Define what each value means:
Each value must be linked to the vision, mission, and strategic objectives.
Identify the purpose of each value and the expected benefits.
2- Expected Behaviors
- Define how each value manifests concretely in the actions and behaviors of employees.
- What behaviors are expected to reflect and embody these values? Provide concrete examples and implement means to facilitate these behaviors.
Example for 3 values:
- Excellence:
- Achieve a customer satisfaction rate of 100% next year.
- Improve product quality indicators by reducing the number of complaints by X%.
- Achieve X recommendations per month.
- Innovation:
- Launch at least one innovative product per year by engaging all employees in research and development projects.
- Create an environment conducive to creativity through a new cross-functional innovation committee.
- Double the number of collaborations with external partners.
- Social Responsibility:
- Reduce our ecological footprint by 50% within 5 years.
- Adopt eco-responsible practices in all our processes by hiring an CSR manager and a project manager.
- Raise awareness among employees and customers about environmental issues, aiming for zero waste and 100% recycling.
3- Measurement and Evaluation
Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure the impact of each value on the company’s results.
Examples of KPIs related to corporate values
- KPIs for the value Excellence :
- Customer satisfaction rate
- Number of complaints
- Number of recommendations
- % Increase of Revenue
- Market share … (similar KPIs for other values)
- Value Innovation. KPIs:
- Number of new products or services launched
- Budget allocated to research and development
- Number of patents filed
- Number of ideas proposed by employees
- Value Responsibility. KPIs:
- CO2 emission rate
- Waste recycling rate
- Number of social or environmental actions taken
- Rate of compliance with ethical and legal standards
- Value Customer satisfaction. KPIs:
- Retention rate
- Recommendation rate
- Retention rate
- Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- Value: Diversity. KPIs:
- Diversity rate (gender, age, education, etc.)
- Inclusion rate (sense of belonging, participation, etc.)
- Turnover rate (employee turnover)
- Engagement rate (involvement, motivation, etc.)
- Value: Sustainable development. KPIs:
- Ecological footprint (energy consumption, water, etc.)
- Social footprint (working conditions, human rights, etc.)
- Economic footprint (value creation, contribution to the community, etc.)
- Value: Autonomy. KPIs:
- Number of decisions made per employee
- Number of training sessions attended per employee
- Job satisfaction level
- Value: Recognition. KPIs:
- Number of positive feedback received per employee
- Number of rewards or bonuses awarded per employee
- Level of employee self-confidence
- Level of pride in belonging to the company
- Value: Conquest. KPIs:
- Number of new customers acquired
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
- Conversion rate
- Number of markets opened
- Value: Growth. KPIs:
- Number of new countries conquered
- Revenue growth rate per employee
- Employee count growth rate
- Growth rate of the number of products or services offered
4- Reinforcing Values
Communicate values at all levels of the organization, integrating them into the strategy, culture, recruitment, training, evaluation, compensation, etc.
Implement awareness and training methods to spread and share values within the company.
Show appreciation to employees who adhere to and embody the values.
This is an important motivator for continuous improvement.
Here is a list of 30 possible values
- Excellence: Aiming for quality and performance in all areas of activity.
- Innovation: Encouraging creativity, initiative, and adaptability to change.
- Responsibility: Taking on commitments, responsibilities, and consequences.
- Collaboration: Promoting teamwork, cooperation, and knowledge sharing.
- Passion: Loving what you do, being enthusiastic and motivated.
- Respect: Treating others with consideration, courtesy, and kindness.
- Integrity: Acting with honesty, transparency, and ethics.
- Trust: Believing in one’s abilities, in others, and in the future.
- Commitment: Giving it your all, being involved and loyal.
- Customer satisfaction: Listening, understanding, and meeting customer needs and expectations.
- Diversity: Valuing differences, inclusion, and tolerance.
- Sustainability: Respecting the environment, resources, and future generations.
- Autonomy: Allowing freedom, initiative, and decision-making for employees.
- Recognition: Appreciating the work done, congratulating and rewarding efforts.
- Enjoyment: Creating a pleasant, friendly, and fun work environment.
- Security: Ensuring the protection of people, assets, and data.
- Solidarity: Supporting colleagues, partners, and social causes.
- Ambition: Setting high goals, taking on challenges, and aiming for success.
- Learning: Training, improving, and acquiring new skills.
- Simplicity: Prioritizing clarity, ease, and efficiency.
- Humility: Acknowledging mistakes, limits, and weaknesses.
- Openness: Being curious, listening, and ready to discover new things.
- Proximity: Being close to customers, employees, and the community.
- Reliability: Being consistent, stable, and predictable in actions and results.
- Audacity: Daring to take risks, break new ground, and innovate.
- Creativity: Imagining, inventing, and implementing original and relevant solutions.
- Quality of Work Life: Promoting well-being, balance, and employee health.
- Leadership: Inspiring, guiding, and mobilizing teams toward a common goal.
- Competitiveness: Differentiating, standing out, and positioning in the market.
- Transparency: Communicating clearly, sincerely, and regularly.
In summary, The Values, a roadmap for success
The key points for developing and implementing core values to foster company success include:
- Identification of values aligned with industry, mission, and customer interests.
- Values’ impact on internal relationships, business practices, and stakeholder interactions.
- Factors influenced by values:
The critical role of values in shaping employee behavior and company decisions.- Guidance and connection,
- Morality and motivation,
- Workplace harmony.
- A three-step process to define core values:
- Brainstorming,
- Theme-based categorization,
- Selection of three to five values.
- Translating values into achievable objectives through a four-step process:
- Define Meaningful Objectives: Link each value to the company’s vision, mission, and strategic objectives. Identify the specific purpose and expected benefits of each value.
- Specify Expected Behaviors: Define concrete behaviors that reflect and embody each value. Provide practical examples and establish measures to facilitate these behaviors.
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Identify quantifiable KPIs to measure the impact of each value on the company’s results.
- Reinforce values through communication : Integrate them into company practices, and employee recognition as a driver for continuous improvement.
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
Steve Jobs
Happy CEO 