Do Your People Believe Your Company Values Are Real?

We all hope our employees believe in our company values and follow and abide by company policies and procedures. We want to believe our teammates share the values outlined in mission statements and vision manifestos but do we know they share our company values? Not unless we ask.

Do Your People Believe Your Company Values Are Real?

Are Leadership and the Team on the Same Page?

The problem with asking employees if they share the leadership’s business beliefs and company values is we may not like the answer. They may believe in the organization’s values, ethics, and moral code but don’t believe the company is achieving them. If that’s the case, wouldn’t you want to know?

Conduct a Values Compliance Survey

To conduct a values compliance survey, carefully consider your organization’s values and then choose three to five to survey.

What values are most likely to be considered unattained?
Are there values left unfulfilled that could adversely affect your organization?
What are the most critical values in your culture?
What values are most important to you?
Ask the team what values they consider to be most impactful.

An Example Survey

Here’s a company values survey we completed with a group of Customer Service Representatives.

Value Compliance Survey

Our company has certain beliefs and values at the core of our business. These values aren’t only what we believe but have made our organization successful and helped us grow. After more than 30 years of conducting business, it’s easy to assume we’re meeting our value expectations. However, management is only sometimes in the trenches. We don’t always know the daily interactions of our company, but you do. We want your opinion on the five cultural values listed below. We’re not asking you to grade yourself but the company overall.

On a scale of 1 – 10, with 10 being the most positive, how would you rate compliance with the following values?

We live by the belief that customers come first.

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Comment _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The accuracy of orders is about as good as it can be.

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Communication between departments and clients is timely and complete.

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Comments _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Employees are friendly and helpful to customers, vendors, and each other.

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Delivering the best possible product to consumers is always our goal.

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What Do Your Employees Believe?

What do your employees believe? Don’t try to answer that question because you can’t answer it. Only your employees can. And before you tell me you know your employees and what they believe, let me ask you a question. What if you don’t? What if you can’t see the forest for the trees? Is it possible your valued employees might have suggestions for improving your organization?

The company’s leadership who gave the survey above to their staff thought they knew the answers, but they didn’t know them all and will be better for it.

How Can I Help You?

I like to help people and organizations, but I have three criteria I consider before taking an assignment – I believe in what the organization stands for, I know I can help, and it looks like fun. If you have any questions, Contact Me.

So, does your business have a management training plan? Because if not, many organizations, large and small, use my book, The New Manager’s Workbook a crash course in effective management, as the basis for their leadership development program. Check it out.

If you found this helpful you might also appreciate this survey, Do You Know What’s Important To Your Employees? A short easy to use employee survey.