As humans, our DNA is what makes each of us, us, and different from each other. It’s what makes you, you. Differences in DNA are the reason one person has blue eyes and another brown, and why some people are tall and others short. It’s the master plan for life on earth and the source of the wonderful variety we see around us, and the instructions passed from parent to child as to how they’ll develop and function.
So why am I giving you a science lesson on DNA? Well, anyone who knows me would say it's because I love analogies, and I believe that DNA is a great analogy to use for company values. Company values are what make you, you, and what are passed down from the company to employees to help them develop and function and the company succeed.
Then why do so many companies not do this? Why don’t they create and use the power of their DNA, their company values, to help their employees know who they are, how they should behave and how they should function?
To research this, I did an experiment of my own looking at company values of organizations appearing on Forbes' America’s Best Employers list, and brought in research from interviews conducted for my book. Here are my key findings and recommendations:
Values need to be prominent.
For many of the companies, I couldn’t even find their values listed on their websites — and if I can’t find them, how will job seekers or potential customers?
Company values need to be prominently displayed in everything and everywhere so there are no questions as to what they are. I’m not just talking about websites, but every communication tool used at your company — shout them from the metaphorical rooftops. Whether it's on your employee platform, when speaking at a company event, on mouse pads or on posters, get them out there.
Values need to be explained.
For many of these companies, even if the values were listed, I couldn’t find a decent explanation of them. Yes they listed definitions, but they read more like dictionary entries than an explanation of what the values really meant.
An example is one company’s definition of their value "respect for people," which discussed "global expansion through the development of mutually beneficial relations" with employees, partners, authorities and other organizations. Do you know what this means? I certainly don’t.
It’s important to keep in mind that designing values is more than coming up with a set of words. The real time and effort needs to be spent on explaining what you mean by these words so employees are crystal clear on how these words translate into behaviors.
Values need to be unique.
Did you know that your DNA is 99.9% similar to that of the person sitting next to you and 96% similar to a chimpanzee's? In my experiment, I also found similarities, with many companies using the same or similar company values. By the way, in case you’re interested, "integrity" was the value I found listed most often.
But even with these similarities, as humans we’re all different. And as companies, we all need to be different and use our unique company values as ways to highlight these differences, distinguishing ourselves from others. Take, for example, Southwest Airlines' top values: Warrior Spirit, Servant’s Heart and Fun-LUVing Attitude. These certainly spell out what is unique and special about the company.
Values need to be connected.
Just like the strands of DNA work together, so must our company values to truly make a difference. In my experiment, I found that for some companies, the values didn’t necessarily hang together, which makes it difficult for employees to remember them or understand what they truly mean.
At my company, we use a rocket ship metaphor to tie our values together, explaining how they work together to ensure the rocket ship gets to its destination, which is our mission statement. This helps employees understand and relate to the mission, and be clear as to how the values support this journey.
Values need to do what they say.
For this last point, let’s forget the analogy and focus on real life. It’s all well and good to have great company values, but if you don’t do something with them, then why bother having them? There are countless stories of companies not doing this, but let’s focus on those that are doing it right — doing what their values say.
One company I researched leads its travel business based on its values. G Adventures has a value of “doing the right thing,” and did just this by coming up with the revolutionary idea of a lifetime deposit, meaning customers don’t lose their deposit if they have to cancel their vacation, and aligning practice with the company's value.
Be sure your values are used to to drive, connect and embed behaviors into each and every business and HR process. Your employees will not only take them seriously if you do this, but they’ll also help company values become more real and more meaningful.
In ending, here’s one more note about DNA: It’s incredibly fragile, and nearly a thousand times a day something can or does happens to it to cause errors. That same challenge exists with our company values — every day something or someone challenges them, and puts them in harm’s way. That’s why building, communicating and connecting values that truly make you, you is the only way to ensure they’re strong enough to drive your employees and your business to develop, succeed and be its best — one shining value at a time.
