How to Roll Out Your Core Values to Your Entire Company

— by Bobby Albert, CEO and President, Values-Driven Culture

I still clearly remember the day we rolled out our Core Values to our employees in October 2005. It was the most significant company-wide event we had ever held.

When people are having fun and their mouths are open with laughter, you can throw in some teaching for personal growth, and the teaching goes down really well. They get it.

Leaders understand that successful meetings result in learning, inspiration and alignment. If you want a successful outcome, you have to plan, prepare and execute when the day arrives.

Here are a couple of ingredients we learned made the day truly significant: 

Set Aside Time 

We blocked out half of a regular workday for our Core Values Day. When employees arrived that morning, they were welcomed with a ticket for door prizes and a pre-printed name-tag that also had their pre-assigned table. 

Set the Mood

We learned that by integrating elements of fun into the event, we were able to create an environment that allowed folks to connect with each other and engage with the message of the event. In our event, we set the mood in the following ways: 

• Music: We played upbeat instrumental music at the beginning and during refreshment breaks to help warm people up and to increase a high level of anticipation for the morning.

• Games: After people grabbed some breakfast and got coffee or a beverage, we kicked-off and welcomed everyone with an Icebreaker game

Share the Purpose

After people got settled in, I spoke about the purpose of the day and explained that Our Values define how we are to behave as we pursue Our Purpose, Our Vision, and Our Super Objectives.

• Share Your Process: I went on to describe the history of the process I went through to discover “Who I was” and Our Values.

• Share Your Personal Story: Throughout the event I was very transparent, and people heard stories about me that some had never heard before. I told stories going all the way back to when I was a little boy.

• Create Anticipation: Even though I shared the purpose of the day and the history of the process, I still did not reveal Our Values yet.

Allow People to Discover Your Values  

I wanted our people to discover Our Values to stimulate their thinking about the content. I found that a great way to do this is through a game and question format. 

• Each table competed to discover each value by playing the Wheel of Values game. The table that yelled out the correct value phrase first got to go and spin a game wheel for prizes.

• Then I shared the meaning of that value, where it came from, and why it was important to me.

• Afterwards, each table went to a flip chart to discuss and record how we, as a company, were going to “live out” that value.

• We wrapped-up each value with each table reporting back what they discussed.

• The process was repeated one value at a time until every value was discovered.

Distribute Ownership

I’ve learned that when I place others in leadership positions, they dig deeper, grow more and produce better results than if I tried to do all the “leading” myself. When we finished the discovery process of Our Values, I did two things:

• Give Each Person a Value: To reinforce the company-wide message we distributed t-shirts with the letters G.I.V.E.R.S. Each letter stood for a key word that composed our values. Distributing the values in this way, gave each person an easy to remember the key words 

• Appoint Leaders: I appointed Value Leaders, who took ownership of each value and were able to do a deeper dive into how we, as a company, were going to “live out” that value.

Clarify Outcomes

Near the end, we had two more discussion questions addressed at the flip charts followed by reporting from each table. The two questions were:

• As an organization, if we fail to align our behaviors/activities with Our Values, what would the outcomes be?

• If we succeed at aligning our behaviors/activities with Our Values, what would the outcomes be?

Reinforce the Values 

Reinforcing your values is just as important as communicating it. In closing, we showed a video of pictures of just about every employee from previous company events. Seeing each person on the screen emphasized Our Value Statement: People, People, People.

Additionally, I created a ‘Our Values’ plaque and placed it in our office foyer, so that we could have a physical reminder of the values we had discussed together. 

Personalize the Values

We wrapped-up Values Day with the Personal Action Plans. 

• We asked each individual employee to take the time to fill out a handout that asked them what action steps they could take to to align their life with Our Values.

• Then each employee placed their Plans inside a sealed self-addressed envelope to themselves.

• At the end of the year, we mailed the envelopes to the employees, so that as they considered their New Years resolutions they could be reminded of their Personal Action Plans.

Click here to download a sample of our GIVERS Core Values Personal Action Plan. Feel free to use it as a template for your own Core Values roll out!

Celebrate the Values

Our Values Day ended with a catered celebration lunch. The room was filled with laughter and conversation about people’s lives, the business AND our newly announced Core Values.

As leaders, we’re often focused on results and anxious to “check off” a task or event and get on with our business. Take time to celebrate big wins or important events. Celebration helps keep everyone energized and passionate about all aspects of the business.

As you can see, it takes a lot of planning and preparation to effectively roll out your Core Values to your team. But if it’s so important to your success, it is worth all the effort!

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