If It's a Value, You Should Be Able to See It

You can usually tell when a company's values are real by what happens when things get a bit uncomfortable.

Not when everything's going smoothly... that's easy. But when things get messy. When there's pressure to take a shortcut, or say yes to something that doesn't quite sit right, or avoid a conversation because it's going to be awkward.

The tricky part is that most of us are making those calls while juggling everything else the job demands. So even if the values are clear, translating them into the next right action... especially in the moment... is harder than it sounds.

And I think that's where most values fall apart. Not because people don't believe in them, but because nobody's taken the time to spell out what they actually look like when the pressure's on.

Values are only useful when they show up as actions. Not inspiration. Not a poster on the kitchen wall. Practical defaults that guide real decisions on a random Tuesday afternoon when things get complicated.

Here's a simple way to take one value and turn it into something people can actually follow.

Start With One Value. Then Define the Behaviour.

A value is only useful if people can answer one question: "If we believe this, what do we actually do?"

Write the value at the top of a page. Then finish two sentences:

• We live this value when we...

• We break this value when we...
  
  

That's it. Keep it concrete. Aim for actions someone could actually notice... not feelings, not aspirations, but things you could point to and say "that, right there, that's us living this."

Example using the value of Transparency:

• We live this value when we...

  • share bad news early before it becomes a surprise,

  • flag risks in progress updates (not just wins),

  • and set clear expectations about what's included and what isn't.

• We break this value when we...

  • delay difficult conversations hoping they'll resolve themselves,

  • present progress as smoother than it is,

  • or leave clients to find out about changes instead of telling them directly.

If you want to go deeper on understanding what drives behaviour (and what gets in the way), I wrote about the COM-B model here, it's a useful companion to this.

Translate It Into Three Zones

Once you've defined the behaviour, the next step is making sure it shows up in three places: inside the business, in your external relationships, and in your community.

• Internal actions (how you run the business)

This is where values either get built into the rhythm of work or quietly ignored. A few practical ways to embed them:

• Add a quick values alignment check before kicking off a project. For example:

  • What does being transparent look like during this project?

  • Where are we most likely to be tempted to compromise it?

• Build values-based reflection into progress reviews. Not a big production... just a question or two, like:

  • In the past month, did you feel you had enough context to do your job well?

  • What was missing?

• When developing new policies, run a quick impact check. Consider questions such as:

  • Who does this help most? What confusion might it create?

  • What do we need to explain so this feels clear rather than surprising?

• External actions (how you work with clients and partners)

Your values shouldn't live behind closed doors. They should be visible in how you show up to the people you work with.

• Screen partners and contractors against your values, not just capability or cost.

  • Do they communicate proactively when something changes, or do you usually have to chase?

• Set the tone early.

  • Include a short "how we work" section in client onboarding that names the value and what it means in practice.

• Transparency as a value means letting people see inside, not just telling them you're open. So, build in public...

  • Publish your decision-making rationale,

  • share moments where the value was genuinely hard to uphold.

• Community actions (how you contribute)

• Choose causes that connect visibly to your values, not just generic goodwill. If transparency is a value, support organisations working on access to information or open data.

• Contribute something that demonstrates the value. Run a workshop sharing how your business applies it. Publish your framework as an open resource. If transparency is a value, sharing your own process is itself an act of it.

[GIF: someone proudly pinning something to a board]

Add Accountability (So It Actually Sticks)

Here's the thing... values drift. You won’t feel it, it’s like that classic saying about boiling a frog… It starts out in cool water that slowly heats up, and before it knows it, things aren’t the same anymore.. A shortcut here, a "just this once" there, and without realising itit the value is something you say but not something you do.

A practical way to counter this is to build values alignment into your decision-making. When you're prioritising projects or evaluating opportunities, make values fit one of the criteria you score against... not just commercial fit or effort level. It doesn't need to be complicated. Even a simple matrix where "does this align with what we stand for?" is one of the columns can change which projects get the green light and which ones get a second look.

The Hardest Part Is Naming the Actions

Honestly, the framework is the easy bit. Writing "we value transparency" takes about three seconds.

The hard part is sitting down and defining what that actually looks like when a client is upset, when a project is behind, when the honest answer is "we got this wrong."

But once you do it, values stop being something you display and start being something anyone on your team can use. Not on a good day when everything's going well. On the messy days. The ones where it matters.