Company Core Values That Go Beyond Integrity and Innovation
The Case for Company Core Values
Core values set an expectation for how you interact with everyone – from employees to customers and everyone in between, including candidates, vendors and community members. Core values differentiate you from the competition and connect you with others who share those same values. They guide decision-making and help you determine what you will and won’t do.
Core values can win customers, guide the exit of an employee, drive your policies, help your organization thrive through a pandemic and more.
What makes a great core value?
Great core values are three things:
- Gutsy – A great core value represents the real, authentic you…from the guts!
- Unique – A great core value is distinctly you, and no one else.
- Active – A great core value is something you can do. It’s a verb.
What’s not a core value? Core values shouldn’t be who you wish you were but aren’t. They are not something everyone should be (like honesty or innovation) or something you only need to be sometimes. Core values should apply to every individual in the organization, no exceptions.
Core values also need some explanation. Short descriptions give color to the single word or short phrase that represents each value.
Six Examples of Great Company Core Values
These values from humanworks8 clients are examples of core values that are gutsy, unique and active. Each example features a values image that further brings the values to life. These clients have used their values to elevate the people touchpoints across their organizations.
Experience Columbus: Destination Marketing, Columbus, OH
Value the Voices: Engage, listen and work collaboratively. Seek diverse perspectives and be open to new ideas. Give everyone a seat at the table.
Think Forward: Assess, explore and think strategically. Cherish our resources and start with the end goal in mind. Honor our past as we craft our future.
Take it On: Show up, pitch-in and be empowered. Embrace challenges and be a leader. Take the initiative, hustle and make it happen.
Create Moments: Celebrate, inspire and make memories. Champion our community and welcome all who explore. Enrich the lives of others.
Live Your Passion: Be present, authentic and do good. Express yourself and leverage individual strengths. Bring energy and passion to all you do.
MacGregor Partners: Supply Chain Software and Consulting, Milwaukee, WI
Win as One: Enjoy the journey together – together in understanding our unique backgrounds and abilities, together in collaboration around thinking and ideas, together in celebration of our success. Stay connected and leverage strengths.
Face Forward: Rise above the unexpected with speed and urgency to deliver our best – our best innovations, our best improvements, our best work. Be bold with calm confidence.
Make it Meaningful: Relationships are our foundation – make every customer and team interaction count. Care more.
Model the Way: Help one another to grow – teach, learn, and live what we’re about every day. Represent and share knowledge.
Show Up & Speak Up: Bring your best – self, idea, challenge and support to every moment. Always add value.
Miron Construction Co., Inc.: Construction Services, Neenah, WI
Stay Grounded: Be authentic, lead with humility and recognize the needs of others. Care for one another and extend a helping hand wherever it’s needed. Honor our history.
Think Big: Learn from each experience, challenge historic thinking, continually seek a better way, and expand our capabilities.
Rally Together: Get involved, respond with urgency and work as a team to get the job done. Leverage the strengths of each individual and overcome obstacles as one.
Dig Deep: Bring the passion, keep moving forward, and stay focused on the results. Champion the competitive spirit, make the most of every opportunity, and stay hungry.
Build Legacies: Deliver unmatched quality, create meaningful connections, and craft unforgettable experiences in everything we do. Capture what truly matters and find ways to inspire.
Next Step Insurance: Medical Insurance, Plymouth, WI
Seek the Story: Value each client’s journey and find the right solutions for their circumstances. Each file has a real person with a unique story behind it.
Happy to Help: We say yes. We adapt, we jump in, and we are happy to help anyone, anytime.
Learn & Lead: Humble experts committed to continuous learning. Do the research and share the knowledge – with each other, with clients and with the community.
Own It: Be accountable for your actions and follow through. Do the hard work and the right thing.
Be Your Best Self: Value each other as individuals and respect what each person brings to the table. Find balance and demonstrate care.
Educate First: We are compassionate, caring people who educate first. We make sales because we care. Our approach to sales through education builds client confidence and strengthens our client relationships.
Penfield Children’s Center: Child Development Non-Profit, Milwaukee, WI
Lead with Love: We welcome everyone with compassion, empathy, patience, and kindness. To lead with love, we look for the best in our co-workers, our families, and ourselves.
Grow with Us: We celebrate our successes and learn from our mistakes. We believe there is always a better way of asking questions that challenge the status quo, improve our process, and make our work easier. We focus on how we can improve ourselves and, in the process, better serve the children and families in our care.
Better Together: Together, we can do amazing things. Children and families trust us and depend on us to work as a team to meet their needs. We are better together when we maximize our strengths, the gifts of our colleagues, and the commitment of our amazing partners.
Do What It Takes: We are determined, motivated, and adaptable. We solve problems. We own our work, our actions, and our behaviors. We step up to help our co-workers, partners, and our families. We do what it takes to get the job done right and done well.
Be Present: We bring our best, genuine self to everything we do. Being present allows us to bring our passion and commitment to our work to ensure the best possible outcomes for Penfield.
Wildheart Salon: Full-Service Hair Salon, Mequon, WI
Service Obsessed: Welcome guests as they are and make them light up, leaving the chair feeling alive. Listen with curiosity and build trust.
Run Wild: Create customized solutions. Be bold, original and colorful. Nothing is off limits.
Thrive Together: Work together to take care of our guests. Celebrate each other’s successes and build each other up.
Flourish: Ever-learning, ever-giving. Lead with confidence. Combine skill with ambition.
Be Me: Show up as my whole self – mind, body and soul. Be self-aware, free-spirited, warm and full of life.
Bringing to Life Your Company’s Core Values
Organizations with gutsy, unique and active core values can bring them to life across all company practices that touch people – their “people touchpoints.”
Using the core values as a foundation for the 12 people touchpoints in a business will create engagement for employees and give direction to leadership as they chart a course for their vision. These efforts will continue to differentiate the organization, set the expectation for how the organization’s people interact and connect them to both each other and a greater purpose. To bring to life your company’s core values, consider how your core values are present and active in the following practices and initiatives:
- Communications
- DEI & Belonging
- Offboarding
- Orientation/Onboarding
- Performance Management
- Processes & Policies
- Recognition
- Strategic Planning
- Surveying
- Talent Discovery
- Training & Development
- Well-Being
Need help getting started? Learn more about our Values Discovery process or get in touch to start the conversation.