We are always on the lookout for positive trends, especially from the for-profit space, that can translate into nonprofit success. Recently, we’ve heard a lot about great corporate cultures like those of Zappos and technology companies. When we dissect what makes these companies tick, the underpinning is always core values.
Core values are part of a company’s DNA, guiding how employees show up every day. From online retail to technology companies and everything in between, brands are taking notice and creating values that drive their culture forward. An excellent article in Harvard Business Review notes how WD-40 (yes – the company that makes spray lubricant), even created a WD-40 Maniac Pledge that all employees recite:
I am responsible for taking action, asking questions, getting answers and making decisions. I won’t wait for someone to tell me. If I need to know, I’m responsible for asking. I have no right to be offended that I didn’t “get this sooner.” If I’m doing something others should know about, I’m responsible for telling them.
As WD-40 CEO Garry Ridge aptly put it, “The fear of failure is the biggest fear in the world. We had to go from failure to freedom.”
Now that core values are mainstream, the question is: how can nonprofits use them to attract the right people, build strong cultures and reinforce the “holy trinity” of vision, mission and values?
Five Steps to Developing Core Values
Over the years, we’ve developed an easy and fun five-step process with our clients to create (or refine) their organizations’ core values.
Step 1: Crowdsource Ideas
Invite employees to create a values board (like a personal vision board) filled with quotes, pictures and values that resonate with them. Make it a game – it can be organization-wide or by department – and post the collection digitally or on a bulletin board so that others can review and comment.
Step 2: Deliberate on Optimal Values
Convene employees during a staff meeting or retreat (with food!) and have them present their ideas for discussion. Have a facilitator (not the CEO) guide the conversation and start collecting themes. The goal is to gather common ideas, not fine-tune or wordsmith. Give each employee stickers (dots) to vote on the top five themes that resonate most. These themes can be ones that your organization already embodies and wants to reinforce, but they can also be aspirational values that you want your organization to embody in the future.
Step 3: Refine & Finalize Core Values
Ask for staff volunteers to pull together the current vision/mission, values board, discussion notes and votes into a draft for further review. A popular trend we like is turning your core values into an acronym (e.g., TRUST, SPIRIT, TEAM). For example, if you choose TRUST, the T could stand for Teamwork, the R for Respect, etc. Just make sure the end result is unique to your organization and energizes leadership and staff. Before finalizing, you may want to share this with your board of directors for their input.
Step 4: Take Action to Build Meaning
Once core values are established, do a gap analysis of where the organization stands with each core value on a continuum of reality to ideal. Some core values may already be evident. Others may be aspirational – such as Zappos’ “Deliver WOW through Service.” Ultimately, your core values should be more than words on a wall; they need to be embedded into your organizational habits. A few ways to do this are to:
- Use them as a litmus test in hiring and performance reviews
- Form a culture committee
- Define values in everyday language and behaviors to ensure that everyone is on the same page as well as giving unspoken beliefs meaning
The goal is to determine as an organization how you will “live your values.”
Step 5: Monitor, Evaluate & Revisit
Values gain meaning and urgency when they have a direct connection to policies, practices and behaviors. To ensure this, add core values to your annual employee survey and ask employees how well they feel the organization is living its values. Aim for 90 percent employee satisfaction with both the written values and how well they’re embodied.
If satisfaction is low, revisit Step 4 to strengthen how values are embedded. Just as important, remember to celebrate success. You might give awards to employees who consistently “live the values,” so everyone in your organization can see core values practiced and rewarded. When rolling out core values, highlight one each month with quotes, sayings and pictures. Have the CEO reinforce the message in emails, sharing examples that support – or fall short of – that value. Use stories to bring values to life. And since organizations evolve, revisit values when needed.
As restauranteur and business author Danny Meyer so eloquently suggests, core values are “the riverbanks that help guide us as we refine and improve on performance and excellence. A lack of riverbanks creates estuaries and cloudy waters that are confusing to navigate. I want a crystal-clear, swiftly flowing stream.”
When nonprofits fully invest in core values, they become more than words – they’re the guiding current of culture, performance and impact. We would love your input: what are your core values, and how you are using them to drive excellence in your organization?
