Hey team,
Happy Tuesday! We’re full in the swing of Q4, and I can’t wait to see the 1000s of you registered for my live, online masterclass later today. See you there?
But today, we have an important discussion to have…
Are ‘core values’ just corporate bullsh*t?
I had a brilliant call with a business owner yesterday. He leads a team of 6 people and has had a set of core values in the business for a couple of years.
They sound good, they’re written down and everyone technically knows they exist.
But he said something I hear all the time: “I’m not actually seeing them show up in how the team works.”
Then, he asked me:
Are core values even useful? And if they are, how do I actually get my team to use them?
My answer was:
No, core values aren’t bullsh*t. But the way most companies use them absolutely is. Because if you spend half a day coming up with words like:
Integrity. Excellence. Collaboration. Ownership.
Then stick them on a wall, add them to the onboarding deck and expect everyone to start behaving differently...
Then they’re hella useless.
Core values ONLY become useful when they start influencing real decisions and real behaviour. That means you actually have to use them.
Core values matter because they give you a standard for how people are expected to work, not just what they deliver. So when someone is hitting every target but their attitude is damaging the team, you have something concrete to hold them accountable to.
My core values project with SMP
I’ve had the honour of working with Sony Music Publishing over the last year on a long-term global core values implementation project.
And I mean i.m.p.l.e.m.e.n.t.a.t.i.o.n… not a few nice words on a slide.
So, after a year of seeing what it takes to bring core values to life inside a huge global organisation, here are 4 of the biggest lessons you can steal for your own team:
Lesson 1: Build them with the team
I’m a huge believer in involving the team in defining what your values actually look like in practice. For example, if you have ‘ownership’ as a value, decide together,
Does it mean raising problems early?
Coming with solutions instead of dumping problems upwards?
Following through without being chased?
The word itself doesn’t matter anywhere as much as the behaviours underneath it. We need everyone in your team to be able to clearly explain what each value means in practice.
Lesson 2: Talk about them in your 1:1s
In order to keep the language at top of mind, they should come up in your 1:1 conversations in a structured way too…
Ask:
“Which of our values do you think you’ve demonstrated really well recently?”
“Which one could you demonstrate more strongly?”
“Where do you think we’re not living up to our values as a team?”
This way, they stop being words written somewhere and become part of how people actually relfect on their performance.
Lesson 3: Reward people for living them
Most organisations say culture matters and then reward people almost entirely on output?? That sends a VERY clear message.
If somebody delivers brilliant numbers but makes everyone around them miserable, and you keep promoting them because they hit the target, your actual values are not whatever is written on your website.
Your actual value is: Results at any cost.
People pay attention to what gets rewarded, so recognise the people who live the culture you’re trying to build.
Then praise and promote it as much as possible.
Lesson 4: Leaders have to go first
This sounds obvious, but it’s where so many companies lose credibility. You cannot have “candour” as a company value while senior leaders avoid difficult conversations.
You cannot have “ownership” as a value while managers blame everyone else when something goes wrong.
Your team watches what leaders tolerate far more closely than what leaders say. So before asking whether your team is living the values, ask…
Am I?
So no, core values aren’t bullsh*t
But they are completely useless unless you’re willing to actually use them to manage, reward, challenge and make decisions.
Peace,
H
And NTW if delegation is one of the things keeping you stuck in the weeds right now, I’m running a free live workshop at 2pm BST today on how to stop doing everything yourself and build a team that takes real ownership.
If you want in, grab your spot now and I’ll see you at 2pm 👀