Winter 2025 · Note
Values: the guardrails for growth
Effective values are clear, ownable principles expressed in language people genuinely recognise, use and believe.
Values become meaningful when they carry behavioural consequence. Values that are found quickly, and then left to fade, do little useful work.
Values themselves remain essential. Organisations need to agree and explain behavioural expectations. They need standards, decision-making guides and cultural consistency.
Words matter. Human beings organise themselves through language every day.
The real question is whether the words and phrases used are credible enough to influence behaviour, and whether the organisation does the patient work of bringing them to life day after day.
Effective values are clear, ownable principles expressed in language people genuinely recognise, use and believe.
They should sound like the organisation at its best, because that is what they help people create.
If you agree that consistent behaviour is important, consider how much more achievable that becomes with guidelines in place, and with the steady work of bringing them to life. That is what values provide.
Erika Clegg, strategic adviser to founder-led and family-owned organisations. Start a conversation.