Values

Mar 13

What are Company Values?

Values are the guiding principles that reflect your mission as an organization. They are the defined beliefs, approaches and methods that make your team and vision unique!

Company values can take several shapes. Many organizations will have multiple values, typically between 3-10. Values can be a single word, like ‘Respect’, or a phrase or sentence, like ‘Embody respect towards your team and yourself.’ Whatever shape your values take, the important thing is that they resonate with you, your team and your organization as a whole.

Many early stage companies avoid setting values because they seem frivolous or unnecessary. They can feel like a project that should be approached when your organization is more tenured. In this blog, we hope to argue just the opposite. At HENSLEE, we believe that defining company values early and building your operation using them as a tool throughout all aspects of your organization is one of the most effective ways to keep yourself and your team aligned, on track and accountable.

How to Find and Define Values

Defining your company values does not need to be complicated. Essentially, you are boiling down all of the wonderful things that make your company stand out into a word or sentence. Here are a few things to consider before you get started:

Who is creating your company values?

Defining values can be a personal thing for a company. A founder may choose to take on the task, putting into words the mission and vision that they had in mind when creating the company. Some may choose to make the task a group effort, particularly amongst a small group of decision makers. You may also decide that defining values will be a company-wide decision. Whichever route fits your organization, setting structure around the communication process and timeline is crucial to stay focused and on track!

What sets your organization and your team apart?

Defining your company values should be a reflection of the mission, vision and work that you operate by. Think about the components that make you unique in the business world. Things like teamwork, communication, follow-through, ambition, understanding, and creativity can all become the foundation of a value. Take a step back to reflect on what makes your organization great and what you strive to achieve.

How do you want to structure your values?

As we’ve already learned, company values can take many shapes. You can choose to have your values represented through a phrase, full sentence or a single word. Whichever version fits your style is fine, but it’s helpful to be consistent across the board. Another thing to consider is whether your value exists exclusively in the written/spoken form or if you want to add other elements. This could be a complimentary image, sound, action or something entirely unique to your organization.

How many values do you want to have?

Deciding how many values you want to have is a big step in the process. You want to have enough to fully represent your organization’s mission, but not so many that they become repetitive or overwhelming. Your values should represent the range of beliefs, methods and approaches that make your organization stand out.

Defining your company values should be a thoughtful process. By zooming out and thinking about the overall mission of your organization, you should find that they are obvious to recognize. It is also important to point out that values are subject to change as your organization grows. Be willing to check in and ensure that the values you define continue to be relevant as you evolve.

How to Weave Values into all Aspects of Your Organization

There is a misconception that values are frivolous to a company. They sound nice, but don’t do anything. If they don’t truly reflect your vision and are not utilized, this can be the case. However, when values are thoughtful and applied to your operations, they can inform and structure all aspects of the employee lifecycle and business development. Here are a few examples of where and how you can incorporate values into your company philosophy:

Employee Engagement/DEIB - Values are a great way to encourage employee engagement and belonging. They give your team a shared language, which can help build strong communication and community. When your team understands what their company stands for, they are more likely to embody those values.
Recognition - Employee recognition programs are a fantastic place to represent your values. Consider incorporating values to ‘shout outs’ or ‘high fives.’ Then, when giving recognition, managers and teammates can call someone out for embodying a company value.
Attraction/Retention - Clearly defining and representing your company values is also a great way to attract and retain talent. According to a study by Qualtrics, employees who say their company’s mission, vision and values align with their own are far more likely to recommend their employer as a great place to work (70% vs. 25%) and to say their work gives them a feeling of personal accomplishment (72% vs. 29%). They’re also less likely to say they are thinking about leaving their current employer (33% vs. 44%).
Decision-Making - Values can serve as a wonderful tool for reflection and decision-making. When you measure your choices against your values, you can keep yourself and your organization accountable. This can be used in situations like deciding to implement a new system for communication, offering more accommodating working space to those with disabilities, revitalizing your hiring practices to support diversity and more.
Compensation/Policies - Company policies and compensation philosophies have the unfortunate position to often be approached from a strictly compliance standpoint. While we do need to stay compliant in these areas, they can also be shining examples of your values towards your employees. Things like holistic compensation plans that include wellness stipends, mental health resources, supportive PTO and time off policies and more can be impactful examples of your company values in action!

HENSLEE’s Values

HENSLEE knew from the start that we needed to define our company values. Once our full team was assembled, we spent several weeks together brainstorming, refining and further refining, until our values (and their accompanying images, emojis and hand signals) fully and completely represented our vision. HENSLEE’s values are:

Lead with Heart

“Lead with heart” is symbolic of showing empathy to others. We’re an organization that strongly believes in empathy and practicing compassion internally and with our clients. And, being an HR and People operations-based company, practicing intentional kindness and respect is of the utmost importance.

For “Lead with heart”, we chose the motion of bringing the index fingers together and the thumbs together to form the shape of a heart. And, of course, our emoji is 💓.

Keep it Wavy

“Keep it wavy” is all about embracing the ebb and flow of daily (work) life, and welcoming curiosity, play, and joy. It was important for us at HENSLEE to create a value acknowledging that it’s okay if our days don’t go as planned. We love checking those boxes but we also know that if a box goes unchecked we are still competent and valuable. There is creativity and beauty in the unexpected, and making space for exploration and play in the workplace is something that we are all about!

Our motion for “Keep it wavy” is moving our hand and fingers in a roll/wave action, bringing all five fingers down in front of the palm and then curving them back upwards, and the emoji is 🌊.

Do What You Say You’ll Do

“Do what you say you’ll do” is about integrity, transparency, and accountability. Our word is our bond, and we strongly believe in the importance of operating from a place of trust and follow-through. We cherish genuineness and honesty, and we ensure the embodiment of these qualities when working with clients, as well as when working internally as a team.

The emoji for “Do what you say you’ll do” is ⚖️ and the motion is opening up your hands, palms up.

Make Space and Elevate

“Make space and elevate” is a value that embodies practicing diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as holding space for others. We retain a high regard for treating all humans equally regardless of gender, national origin, age, identity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability, or any other self-identified characteristic.

As an organization, we foster an environment of safety, allowing space to be held internally and externally, with our clients. We believe that giving space to one another enables individuals to show up as their full selves, and gives reassurance that they are supported.

Our motion for “Make space and elevate” is bringing both arms above our head and pushing our hands up- similar to “raising the roof.” And our emoji is 🙌 .

Conclusion

We hope that through this exploration of company values, you are inspired to define or revisit your own. We at HENSLEE truly believe that by setting values with intention and actively integrating them into your business practices, that you will bring sincerity and intention to all that you and your organization do.

If you would like assistance defining your values or updating your operations to reflect your values, please contact the HENSLEE team here.

We’ll sign off today, once again, with our values:

💓 Lead with heart 💓

⚖️ Do what you say you’ll do ⚖️

🙌🏽 Make space and elevate 🙌🏽