Core values become real when they are used, not just posted on a wall. Start by finding the values your best people already show in their work. Keep the list short, usually three to five. Then bring those values into daily life: talk about them in meetings, praise people by name when they live them, hire and coach with them, and use them to make hard choices. The Scaling Up framework from Verne Harnish puts strong weight on living values this way. Below, we share our own plain-language approach.
At WeKinnect, our core value is Service before Self. We will use it as an example throughout, but your values should be your own.
This works in any industry, from a food truck to a family-owned funeral home.
This post draws on ideas from Verne Harnish’s Scaling Up framework. The explanations and examples here are WeKinnect’s own words.
Many businesses write values like “integrity” and “excellence,” frame them, and never mention them again. Staff notice. When the values are not used, they become words that mean nothing, or worse, words that make people roll their eyes when leaders do not live them.
Real values guide real choices. They answer the question, “What do we do when no one is watching and there is no rule for this?”
Think of two or three people on your team you wish you could clone. What do they do that makes them great? Do they help others without being asked? Do they tell the truth even when it is hard? Do they keep things tidy so the next person can work well?
Now think of someone who did not work out, even with good skills. What was missing? The answers point to your true values. Write them down in plain words.
Values should be easy to remember and easy to act on. “Service before Self” is short and clear. “We pursue excellence in all endeavors” is hard to picture. Try writing each value as a short phrase plus one sentence that shows what it looks like. For example: “Service before Self: we help the guest or teammate in front of us before we worry about our own task.”
People watch what leaders do far more than what they say. If the owner cuts corners, the values die quickly. If the owner stays late to help a teammate or admits a mistake openly, the values come alive. Leaders must also be willing to act when someone with great results keeps breaking the values. That is hard, and it is when values are tested most.
Stories are how values spread. Keep a simple place where anyone can share a moment when a teammate lived a value. Read a few at team meetings. Over time, these stories teach new people faster than any handbook.
Service before Self is not a slogan for us. It shapes how we answer calls, how we treat partners, and how we decide what to work on. When values are lived, customers feel it even if they never read them. That is the real goal.
Usually three to five. Fewer values are easier to remember and use every day.
Look at your best people and what makes them great. Also look at what was missing when someone did not fit. Those patterns reveal your true values.
Talk with them privately and clearly about the gap. If it continues, leaders must act. Keeping them sends the message that values do not matter.
Written By
Darlene Gagnon is the founder of WeKinnect Global Branding Agency. Guided by the core value of Service before Self, she works with entrepreneurs and family-owned legacy businesses. She focuses especially on restaurants, arts, and travel and tourism. Darlene writes on Branding, Positioning, Marketing Strategy, Public Relations, Storytelling, and Entrepreneurship. WeKinnect serves entrepreneurs and family-owned legacy businesses across restaurants, arts, travel and tourism, banking, home services, nonprofits, and the pet industry, and Darlene brings that same spirit of service to every piece she writes.
