Every company has its different values: that is true, but the fact is, not every business works by them. These beliefs are what build a strong foundation and an influential company culture. Is your company’s moral code lost somewhere in the busy life of a working day? The way to bring the organisational values is to convert them into different behavioural examples. By modelling those behaviours and rewarding them will demonstrate the changing culture. Employees need reminding of what it is that their company stands for and how they can work following those principles.
The behaviours observed will make it a lot easier for your employees to understand the expectations of the company’s standards.
Don’t let the organisational values sit there in the handbook; it is time to bring them to life.

Put values front and centre
It is all too easy to lose the company values when you are just focusing on the tasks that you need to get done. The values should guide the business, and they should influence the decisions made; however, it is difficult to apply them if no one can even remember them, or if they don’t fully understand the reasoning.

Philanthropy
Ensure your values as a business owner or business manager incorporate a charity or organisation of some kind. Choose a charity or organisation that fits in with you or your business in some way, that you care for, especially if you have a connection with them. If this organisation has impacted you at some point, don’t be afraid to tell your story. The Black Dog Institute, for example, often has a stigma around it; however this leads to people being afraid to speak up. Talking about it is exactly what they work to improve. Incorporating a charity into your business can both help them and their cause, as well as giving your business more strength as a supporter of a great cause.

How can we get values to stick?
It is vital to get the moral code at the forefront of every staff members mind, which starts by making it prominent within the workplace. While you are featuring it on the website and in the new hire handbook which staff do not look at often, you need to post it where the team gather around like the staff room or conference room. You can even get creative and paint them on the walls throughout the office, so they are a daily reminder. Don’t just paint them on walls and create logos to remind staff the communication about the values also needs to come from the top often.

Hire based on values.
When you are building a workforce that works by the moral values, you need to start the hiring process based upon these values. For the company values, you need to create a list of questions that will assess their character and fit within the company. People can be inclined not to share the company’s beliefs. The interview process needs to identify the candidates who have similar core values, which is essential to being able to build a workforce that can apply company ethics effectively in everything that they do.

Reward and keep promoting the values
You need to heavily promote the company’s morals by rewarding the staff demonstrating them. Publicly reward the team for showing behaviours expected, and try to push this more than putting the pressure on those who are underperforming. The praise will give a sense of pride and hard work paying off for the individual, but it will also motivate the other staff member to follow the same way.
You can reward staff with programs such as employee of the month or offer a free dinner coupon somewhere. Even just a pat on the back can be very rewarding for someone who has been trying hard. It doesn’t matter how you reward the staff as long as they know they are being rewarded and for precisely what reason.