The Minder

Corporate values are sets of beliefs that shape behaviour in organizations, and they strongly determine internal and external perceptions. In several projects linking corporate values to brand and organizational change, I’ve been working with a three-tiered model of values, which is helping to make the job of managing values a bit easier.  The first tier is the Deeps.  These are the values that are fundamental to operating effectively and legally and that are shared across competitors or peers within an industry.  Examples might include risk tolerance, integrity, accountability or transparency.

The second tier I call the Differentiators. These are values that distinguish your organization from others based on your longest term vision, for example because you believe in co-creating with customers, or front-line decision making, or pioneering unproven ideas, or being an advocate for a cause.  These values tend to be more complex than the Deeps as they express qualities that are unique to one organization and so not easily summed up in a single word.

The third and top tier is the Deltas.  These are the new values that you want to instill in the organization as part of a change objective that might come from a re-branding, a strategic shift or a cultural initiative.  Caution here though. Values, if they can be changed at all, change very slowly, so taking on more than a couple at a time is risky.  Better to select one or two really important ones and dedicate a lot of time to making them very real for people.  The Deltas should be important, transformational values like organizational honesty, network collaboration or open systems.

If you think about values in these three tiers you can monitor and manage them more effectively; the Deeps  must be constant and unwavering; the Diffs must be reinforced through explicit, visible programs of training and support, and the Deltas should be on the CEO’s agenda and modelled at the highest levels.

Ignore the three tiers and you may find yourself with a long list right out of the “values-a-tron” that no one really believes.  But don’t be too hard on yourself; at least you’re thinking about corporate values, and that is a good start.