3 Tips for Living Daily Values

Making sure your organizational values are reflected in day-to-day operations.

The term “organizational values” gets thrown around a lot, but have you ever taken time to consider what it means? Are your organizational values manifesting in your day-to-day work?

I think I know my organization’s values...actually, what are our values? 

If someone asked you about your organizational values, would you be able to explain them?

You may have them memorized, or you might do a quick Google search and find them on your website. If you need Google’s help to name the values, it’s a sure sign that your organization is not living those values daily.

Here are a three tips to help you align organizational values with everyday behaviour:

1. Find your organizational values

2. Write down your team’s role and daily tasks

3. brainstorm how organizational values may appear in daily tasks

Find your Organizational Values

Remind yourself of your organizational values. This is where Google comes in handy. Do those values have definitions? Bonus points to your organization if they have a clarifying statement for each value.

Read>> Values Checklist

Write down your team’s role and daily tasks

Now that you’re clear on what the values are, shift your attention to your team’s department. What is your team responsible for? Consider the area your team works in and some of the daily tasks involved.

brainstorm how organizational values may appear in daily tasks

Start with one of those tasks and consider how each of the organizational values might show up during this task. What can you do or change to bring that task closer to the organizational value? For example, if your team is responsible for developing a budget for a conference, and one of your organizational values is “inclusion,” an aligning action could be reaching out to some potential conference participants to gather input on dates and times, which might allow them to attend more easily. This demonstrates living the value of “inclusion” from the perspective of event planning.

When it comes to aligning behaviours with values, the work is ongoing. You may discover there is foundational work to be done within your organization to help align behaviour and values. Your team is ready to take that step, and I am ready to help you do it. Learn more about my Culture & Values Audit.