How to Define Strong Corporate Values to Shape Your Company

Having a strong sense of what matters most to you as a company can set you apart from the competition and guide you toward success.

It’s not uncommon to get lost in day-to-day tasks and responsibilities and lose sight of what's most important to your organization. The qualities you find meaningful are called corporate values.

These values are usually related to business relationships, company growth, and customer interactions. To ensure they’re always in line with their core principles and true to the company vision, businesses should keep these values top of mind as they make decisions. 

Corporate values play a part in how employees communicate with one another, how businesses treat their customers, and how they make hiring decisions. It’s best to establish values that align with company actions. To do so, companies often turn to corporate social responsibility software when defining these values for the employee handbook.

Some examples of corporate values are:

• Integrity
• Authenticity
• Honesty
• Diversity
• Innovation
• Teamwork
• Leadership
• Resilience
• Originality
• Productivity 

Need more examples? We’ve got 235.

Why are corporate values important?

Thoughtful corporate values are always a win. From helping leaders make essential business decisions to developing long- and short-term strategies, corporate values play a big part in any corporation. 

• It’s easier for companies to make decisions. Not everyone is going to agree on everything 100% of the time. Disagreements and diverse opinions will always exist. When faced with challenges or tough decisions, a company’s core values can guide leadership toward the best course of action.
• Customer service improves. Authentic core values produce teams of motivated, engaged, and fulfilled employees who are ready to do their best work. With the company’s support, better customer service follows. This can translate to better reviews and increased word-of-mouth marketing. 
• Your reputation precedes you. Every employee represents the employer brand, and the values the organization sets should guide how every team member carries out their role and responsibilities. Embodying meaningful behavior, especially when interacting with customers, stakeholders, and vendors, establishes the company as a trustworthy brand.
• Attract and retain top talent. When recruiting and retaining top talent, having a workplace built on a solid foundation of strong values is crucial. Employees feel supported and appreciated, making them loyal to the organization and boosting employee retention. And when hiring managers are going through the recruitment process, they can lean on these values to attract like-minded job seekers.

How to define your company's corporate values

Coming up with a set of core values seems challenging, but defining these values can be a little easier with the following steps. 

Remember why you started the business

Consider why the business was founded in the first place! These driving factors could be filling a customer's need with a product or service or assisting business owners with various tasks. These motivators can be the foundation of your company values.

For example, integrity or transparency might be your corporate values if you aim to be honest with customers and employees. If your business offers environmentally-friendly products in packaging that can be recycled, a core value would be sustainability or eco-consciousness. Or, if you own a gym, core values could be health and wellness.

Think about the values your customers expect

Get inside the head of your customers and imagine what they’d expect your business's values to be. How can you provide the utmost customer satisfaction? Why would customers choose you over a competitor? How do you stand out from other companies within the same industry? Answer these kinds of questions to create customer-centric values. 

Another way to do this is to picture who your ideal customer is and what their values are. Let’s go back to the gym from the example above. If your customer expects to join a gym to help them hit their fitness goals, make one of your core values accountability.

Ask employees about their values

Another step you can take is to ask employees about their personal values. You could send out an employee survey or have managers ask their direct reports in one-on-one meetings. This makes it easier for employees to live by the company values since they already identify with them.

Utilize other messaging

If your company already has a vision statement, mission statement, or company culture elements, make sure your corporate values align with this messaging. Before you can properly articulate company values, referencing the company’s mission statement can help you think of the impact you want to have on customers. Even if it’s niche, a sentence or two can work.

Keep values unique

Setting corporate values like build trust or be kind is fine, but almost every company shares those beliefs. The most effective company values should be unique to your company and what it has to offer. Your company isn’t made with a cookie cutter, so your values shouldn’t be, either.

Evolve these values over time

Corporate values shouldn’t be set in stone. Be open-minded about these values and remember that they may change. As a company grows and new challenges arise, different values may become more or less important.

A company that’s a startup now, but becomes a major public company in 10 years should take another look at their initiatives to see if there’s anything to remove, add, or tweak.

How to implement corporate values

Once corporate values have been officially established, it’s time to roll them out to your employees. Here’s how to do it.

Make values part of the vocabulary 

If you want your employees to act on and embody the corporate values you have in place, they need to be discussed and referenced often. Bring them up during important discussions, like all-hands meetings. Ensure managers lean into these corporate values during performance appraisals. These values should also be on your website, especially the careers page, so those interested in applying for open roles know them from the get-go.

You can even go as far as displaying corporate values for employees to see every day they come into the office. To emphasize our core values here at G2, we have them painted on the wall at our Chicago HQ.

Lead by example

From founders to directors and even team leads, every day in the office and in meetings, it’s imperative that leaders be an inspiration and a model for practicing company values. Making it a part of your DNA starts at the top and flows down, and it all starts with the actions of those at the helm of the company.

Use values to measure success

As employees progress, corporate values are the framework managers put into place to get their team to set goals and measure their performance. This process should be centered around the growth and development of your employees, while also creating a culture where people are comfortable giving and receiving feedback.

Celebrate behavior that aligns with these values

Whether through peer-to-peer recognition or company-wide announcements, behavior that aligns with corporate values should be recognized and celebrated. Make time to appreciate this behavior because it affirms the core values and motivates others to follow suit.

For example, at G2, we award employees who go above and beyond with the PEAK Professional of the Year award. We don’t just do it on a company-wide level – several departments give out monthly awards for aligning with our values.

The Product Research & Development Team gives awards each month to employees who represent our PEAK values. Here’s me winning PEAK Kindness in August 2021, presented by Chief Product Officer Sara Rossio.

Use as standard for hiring

As your organization grows, you want to be sure you’re consistently hiring and working with the right people (i.e., those who live up to similar values, principles, and code of conduct). New employees should easily fit into the culture and have the same level of professionalism as the rest of the team. 

Be sure the hiring managers and recruiters consider these values as they interview for open roles. This ensures that the employee experience surrounding these values stays positive no matter how large your company becomes. 

Examples of corporate values

As your team starts to write its value statement, check out these five examples of company values!

G2

Here at G2, we live and breathe by our PEAK culture: Performance, Entrepreneurial Spirit, Authenticity, Kindness. We’ve written blogs about it, we make social media posts about it, and it’s on full display in our Chicago headquarters.

On our website, we break these values down by:

• Performance: The feeling of a job well done. We like rolling up our sleeves and committing to thoughtful work.

• Entrepreneurship: Grit. Yep, a tech company can have it. We’ve got some get-up-and-go, and we always look ahead.

• Authenticity: You be you. No matter who you are. That’s what authenticity means to us. Our reviews are real, and so are we.

• Kindness: Whatever we do, we do it with a lot of heart. We believe purpose starts with compassion.

American Express

American Express has developed “Blue Box Values” that serve as the company's foundation.

• We back our customers.
• We win as a team.
• We embrace diversity.
• We make it great.
• We support our communities.
• We do what’s right.
• We respect people.
• We stand for inclusion.

Apple

Did you know that Apple puts its values in the footer of every page on its website? Scroll to the bottom, and you’ll find them:

• Accessibility
• Education
• Environment
• Inclusion and diversity
• Privacy
• Racial equity and justice
• Supplier responsibility 

Slack

You can find Slack's values on their careers page, paired with notable Slack emojis. 

• Empathy
• Craftsmanship
• Courtesy
• Playfulness
• Thriving
• Solidarity

Whole Foods

The grocery store chain Whole Foods has a page on its website dedicated to its corporate values. 

• We sell the highest quality natural and organic foods.
• We satisfy and delight our customers.
• We promote team member growth and happiness.
• We practice win-win partnerships with our suppliers.
• We create profits and prosperity.
• We care about our community and the environment.

What do you value most?

As you consider which corporate values will be your North Star, be sure they align with the business practices, too. And don’t forget to re-examine your company values when significant changes happen – like when you go on a hiring spree, go public, expand the product line, or reach a funding milestone. Take the time to consider what matters to you, your employees, and your customers, and you can’t go wrong!

Learn how to incorporate these values into your recruitment marketing tactics to attract top talent.