The Reality Gap
Core values represent more than aspirational statements on a wall or words in an employee handbook. They should reflect the actual principles that guide how a business operates and how employees treat each other, customers, and the broader community. When values are authentic and actively reinforced through actions and decisions, they become the foundation of corporate culture. When they're just words on paper that no one lives by or references, they breed cynicism and disconnect between stated beliefs and daily reality.
How Many Is Too Many?
Most organizations identify three to seven core values to maintain focus. Having too few makes them too broad to provide meaningful guidance for specific situations. Having too many dilutes focus and makes them difficult to remember and apply in real-time decision-making. The specific values chosen should reflect the organization's true priorities and the behaviors it genuinely wants to encourage rather than generic business buzzwords.
Beyond the Generic
Common core values in service industries include integrity, excellence, teamwork, innovation, accountability, respect, and customer focus. However, generic value statements provide little differentiation or practical guidance. The most powerful values are specific to the organization and clearly connected to how it operates. A quick-service restaurant might emphasize "hustle" as a value, reflecting the fast-paced environment and energy required to succeed in high-volume food service. A healthcare provider might prioritize "compassion" in ways that specifically shape patient interactions and care delivery approaches.
The Culture-Values Connection
According to research from Deloitte's work on company culture, 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a distinct workplace culture is important to business success, and core values are a key component of that culture. However, there's often a significant gap between stated values and lived experience. Employees quickly recognize when leadership claims to value one thing but rewards completely different behaviors in practice through promotions, raises, and recognition.
Hiring for Values Fit
Hiring decisions should align with core values from the very beginning of the employment relationship. During interviews, questions that probe how candidates' past behavior reflects or contradicts core values help assess fit beyond just skills and experience. Someone who thrived in a highly competitive, individual-focused environment may struggle in an organization that truly values collaboration and mutual support. It’s better to identify misalignment early than to hire someone whose natural working style creates friction in the business.
Onboarding: Where Values Come to Life
Onboarding provides the first opportunity to teach new employees what core values mean in practice at this specific organization. Instead of simply listing values in the employee handbook, an effective onboarding experience weaves each one into training and shows examples of them in daily work. What does "integrity" look like when a cashier finds an error in their till? Do they hide it or report it immediately? How does "teamwork" manifest when someone's section gets unexpectedly busy during a dinner shift? Do coworkers jump in to help without being asked?
Real-World Example: Starbucks
Starbucks exemplifies values-driven culture through their stated commitment to creating "a culture of warmth and belonging where everyone is welcome," as articulated in their company mission and values. This value manifests in specific behaviors like using customer names, creating the "third place" atmosphere, and treating every customer interaction as an opportunity to nurture human connection rather than just complete a transaction.
Recognition That Reinforces
Recognition programs gain power when tied explicitly to core values rather than being generic praise. Instead of vague acknowledgments like "great job," connecting employee recognition to specific values reinforces what the organization stands for. "Thank you for staying late to help the closing team finish cleaning after that difficult night. That's teamwork in action." Or "You showed real integrity by telling us about that inventory mistake even though it was uncomfortable and might have reflected poorly on you." Making values tangible through specific examples helps everyone understand what living the values actually looks like.
Performance Reviews: Evaluating How, Not Just What
Performance management should also incorporate core values alongside results achieved. Evaluating employees on what they accomplish and on how they accomplish it. This demonstrates that values matter in practice. An employee who hits sales targets by treating colleagues poorly, lying to customers, or cutting ethical corners doesn't exemplify values around respect, integrity, and collaboration. Organizations that tolerate "brilliant jerks" who perform well but violate core values send a message that values are negotiable and results matter more than culture.
Using Values in Tough Decisions
Core values guide difficult decisions, particularly when competing pressures create tension and no easy answers exist. Should the restaurant cut corners on food quality to reduce costs during a tough period? Should the retail store pressure employees to push products customers don't need to hit monthly goals? Core values provide the framework for answering these questions in ways aligned with organizational identity. If quality is a core value, then compromising food safety or taste to save money contradicts who the business claims to be.
Leadership: The Values Litmus Test
Leaders must model core values consistently for them to take root throughout the organization. When executives or managers violate stated values through their own behavior, it signals to employees that values are just window dressing or apply differently to those in power. If a company claims to value "work-life balance" but managers routinely contact employees on days off, expect responses to emails at midnight, and celebrate those who work unpaid overtime, the real values are obvious regardless of what's posted on the wall. As with any other onboarding, the executive onboarding process should get new leaders on the same page regarding values and show examples of value-driven leadership.
The Multi-Location Challenge
Multi-location businesses face challenges in maintaining consistent core values across sites separated by distance and local management. Different managers interpret values differently based on their own backgrounds and priorities. Local cultures develop unique norms over time that may drift from corporate intentions. When a location is removed from corporate leadership, immediate supervisors become the primary influence on culture. Regular communication about values, clear expectations for how they should manifest in daily operations, and accountability for leaders who don't uphold them can help maintain consistency.
Living Values Through Policy
Values should inform policy decisions when creating new workplace policies or revising existing ones. When creating new rules or guidelines, leadership should explicitly consider whether the policy aligns with core values. A policy that contradicts stated values creates confusion and erodes trust in both the policy and the values themselves. For example, a company valuing "empowerment" shouldn't implement policies requiring manager approval for every minor decision, since that micromanagement contradicts the stated value.
When to Revisit and Revise
Revisiting core values periodically ensures they remain relevant as the business evolves over time. Companies that dramatically shift strategy, grow significantly, merge with other organizations, or undergo leadership changes sometimes find their original values no longer fit current reality. There's no shame in updating values to reflect organizational reality and direction, though doing so requires careful communication to explain why changes are necessary and how new values connect to enduring organizational purpose.
Getting Employee Feedback
Employee feedback on values provides insight into alignment between stated and lived culture. Surveying employees, from onboarding to 360 reviews, should reveal whether new employees see values demonstrated in daily operations, whether leaders model values consistently, and what would help embed values more deeply reveal gaps between aspiration and reality. Critically, leaders should take this feedback to influence actions, not simply collect it and move on.
Bottom-Up Values Development
Some businesses involve employees in defining or refining core values rather than having executives dictate them from above without input. This participatory approach increases buy-in and ensures values resonate with the people who will actually live them daily. Values created through genuine dialogue with frontline workers often feel more authentic and practical than those developed in leadership retreats disconnected from operational reality.
Values as Differentiators
External communication of values serves marketing and recruitment purposes in addition to internal culture-building. Customers increasingly prefer to do business with companies whose values align with their own priorities and beliefs. Job seekers, particularly younger generations, research organizational values when deciding where to apply and which offers to accept. Authentic values that genuinely guide operations become differentiators in both customer and talent markets.
Making Values Real
Ultimately, core values work only when they're more than words. They must be actively reinforced through hiring, onboarding, recognition, performance management, difficult decisions, and leadership behavior. When values become the lens through which the organization evaluates choices and actions, they transform from abstract concepts into the living culture that defines who the company really is.
