Getting Fanatical About Instilling Our Core Values into Our Culture

Let’s assume there’s a gap between the impact we want to make by living out our core values and the impact that’s actually being made through our team’s actions. Even if that gap is incredibly small, there’s always room for improvement - assuming we’ve done the work to solicit the kind of alliance feedback that doesn’t just tickle our ears… As a leader, a big part of our responsibility is to constantly work to provide our teams with a clear understanding of where we are and where we’re going. With regards to making sure we truly are known for our values in the way we’re striving for, keeping the specific words, the detailed explanations, and the practical example each team member can apply in their own role top-of-mind throughout our organization rests on our shoulders. This requires getting fanatical about instilling our core values into our culture.

Throughout this looks at how core values serve as a foundation for any organization, I’ve frequently referenced what I’ve seen Craig and Kim do since acquiring the first piece of their family business in September 2021. Quite frankly, I’ve mentioned it in just about every lesson or general conversation I’ve had about core values since. In one of those conversations a while back, the owners of another company we work closely with seemed overwhelmed. As we talked, one said that they just weren’t sure they could ever get to a point where they put as much time into sharing their values with their team as Craig and Kim were. Hearing that made me realize that the examples I had been using painted a more impressive picture than I had intended. While the work I had seen Craig and Kim do was indeed uncommon, the results they had achieved through it weren’t due to the intensity in their approach but the consistency in how they kept a detailed understanding of their values in front of their team. I assured the folks I was talking with that they wouldn’t need to increase the time they were investing with their team members, they’d just need to tweak how that time was being used and be intentional about weaving their values into every conversation.

Like I mentioned as we looked at how great programs are built on strong values, specifically with how I replied to the executive who asked if it was possible to talk about his organization’s values too often, there’s no such thing as too much! I recently read Day Trading Attention by Gary Vaynerchuck, focused on building a brand and sales on social media. He mentioned issuing the same challenge to everyone he talked with; whatever frequency they had with their social media posting strategy, they needed to post more. Cindy often has at least five posts scheduled on each of our platforms daily, sometimes even more. If I compare that to a client I worked with several years ago who was adamant that one post a week was more than enough, I’d be proud of myself. That organization appears to still be averaging one post each week on one platform but less than one a month on another, and I hadn’t seen any of their posts in my feed for months prior to writing this. All said, I’d still bet Gary V would challenge me and Cindy the same way he does everyone else!

When it comes to instilling our core values into every aspect of our culture, it’s not about how eloquent the font is in our handbooks or the beautiful artwork around the values painted on our walls. It won’t even matter if we stomp our feet or pound the podium as we rattle off the words in an annual meeting with our entire company. The consistency we use, both in detailing our core values and in modeling the behaviors necessary to make them part of our routine, will always trump an intense spurt that’s not seen or heard again for months. There truly is no such thing as too much communication around our core values. Even then, though, that communication will need to be genuine; we’ll need to wear those values on our sleeves.

Wearing Our Values on Our Sleeves (and Everywhere Else)

I remember hearing a story about an old man who’s wife was in tears. He reluctantly asked what was wrong and she replied that he clearly didn’t love her any more because it had been years since he told her so. He scoffed and said, “I told you that I loved you when we got married. I’ll let you know if anything changes…” I can assure you that won’t work in a marriage or any other relationship we care about. And we definitely won’t be able to take that old man’s approach if we ever want to be known for the values we have listed in our handbooks or on our walls; there’s no such thing as talking about them too often.

But here’s a word of caution: empty talk won’t make the grade. If we’re not willing to put our heart and soul into every message we share around our core values, our team members aren’t likely to buy in - and we shouldn’t expect them to! Think about it, would you or I rally around some half-baked speech that the person delivering it clearly doesn’t believe? To that end, should we even refer to something as a “core value” if we can’t confidently talk about the specifics involved in exemplifying it at the drop of a hat?

I realize this will likely put some crusty executives on edge; too many of them have the (mistaken) idea that they need to maintain an image of strength at all cost. This reminds me of a story John Maxwell shared years ago about some work he did with the senior managers in a multi-billion dollar organization. Just prior to a break, John emphasized the importance of being open about their weaknesses. The head dude in charge pulled John aside during the break to tell him that while he had a tremendous amount of respect for him, he disagreed with that statement and that he simply couldn’t afford to do that with his immediate team or allow them to do it with their teams. John chuckled, then explained that his team members were already very aware of his weaknesses. Acknowledging his weaknesses would only set them at ease and allow them to support him in those areas.

The same idea holds true for how we share our message detailing our core values. We absolutely must wear our hearts on our sleeves. To that end, maybe we should consider wearing our values on our sleeves - and anywhere else we can put them… Before expecting our team members to model those values in all they do, we need to be completely committed to providing the most genuine example we’re capable of; in our words, our deed, and any other way we can share that message.

Since starting our business, I’ve been fanatical about representing our brand constantly. I rarely go out in public without something that openly displays our logo, the logo of one of our programs, our signature colors, or a combination of all those things. Hell, I even had a pair of Jordan 1’s made with our logo on the side. As intentional as I’ve been, Craig and Kim took it one step further: they had a design created for their company t-shirts that built their core organizational values into an image that directly corresponds with the field they’re in. Their team members wear those shirts daily, at work and in their personal lives, and it’s one of the few shirts I wear that doesn’t have my own logo…

While listing your values on the back of a t-shirt may not fit your business model, I’ll challenge you to identify what you can do to wear your values on your sleeve - and anywhere else you can possibly think of. When our values are truly a part of who we are, this shouldn’t be too difficult and it starts the process of weaving those values into everything we do, internally and externally.

Weaving Our Values Everything We Do

Assuming you’ve taken to heart the idea of consistency trumping intensity and the importance of wearing our values on our sleeves, even if you don’t feel like you quite built either completely into your routine yet, we’re at a great place. Each are critical role pieces in the framework for laying a solid foundation around those core values. And with those in place, now we just need to be intentional about continuing to weave each value into every aspect of what we do.

Before I move on, let me stress once more: taking a few basic steps daily will have a far bigger (and longer lasting) impact than one massive spurt of effort that’s not sustained. Quite frankly, that spurt may do more harm than good, especially if our teams see us pounding our chests about something we claim is important one day then don’t hear us mention again in the weeks or months that follow. Early in my manufacturing career, I heard the term “flavor of the month” used as a label for the latest and greatest corporate initiative that was going to revolution everything we did. It wasn’t long until I understood why so many things received that title; most started with a flurry of activity and excitement, or at least emphasis, but few were ever maintained long enough to produce measurable results. No single group of folks held complete responsibility for any particular initiative falling flat, unless we consider Maxwell’s statement that “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” Looking back, though, the one common theme I can point to would be that most of those were being pushed from a land far, far away (the corporate HQ) by people who rarely (if ever) set foot in our facility with the expectation of massive immediate changes but no plan for ongoing sustainability. The one process that stuck around was the behavior-based safety process I was involved in. I’m certainly not taking credit for that, at least not initially, since I didn’t take the reigns until it had been in place for close to three years; few other initiatives ever made it that long. I believe it’s sticking power rested on getting a lot of people involved but asking for very little support from each of them.

Weaving our core values into every aspect of how our organizations do business will rest solely on our shoulders to begin with, but when we can effectively communicate how each ties to the work we do and the work our team members do daily our lift becomes significantly lighter. Our consistent message and example will, sooner or later, spill over into what each individual on our team does. While this may seem like a slow and painful process at first, the impact will eventually be exponential - inside our organization and with everyone we deal with externally.

Just in case I haven’t stressed it enough, sharing a simple and consistent message around our core values carries far more weight than a parade of pomp and circumstance that we never refer to again. My challenge to you here is to get incredibly intentional about how you weave your company’s core values into everything you say and do, then make sure you have a system (or maybe even a dedicated person) for holding you accountable to sticking with your messaging and example until it become a part of who you are. This will serve as the framework for laying your foundation. Then you’ll just need to add some bracing to make sure everything stays in place, so we’ll work through that soon.