Culture is set by example from the top. While not having established company values is a strategic oversight, it is far worse to have them and then have the leadership team defy them in their actions.
When the guidelines that are supposed to be universal and core to how the group operates are treated as rules for some people some of the time, you are setting a clear course for those values to be ignored by everyone.
The Integrity Gap: When Actions Betray Words
A company's values are its stated promise—a promise to its employees and its customers about what it stands for. When a leader's actions contradict those values, they create an "integrity gap."
This gap is the space between what is said and what is done, and it is where trust goes to die.
- An organization that claims to value "innovation" but punishes every failed experiment teaches its employees to never take a risk.
- An organization that claims to value "transparency" but makes all key decisions behind closed doors teaches its employees that information is a weapon to be hoarded.
If your organization doesn't respect its own values, it lacks integrity. The beautiful posters on the wall become a source of mockery and resentment, not inspiration.
How to Set Values That Stick
The problem often starts with the values themselves. When determining the core values to set, leaders often make two mistakes:
- They are unrealistic: They choose aspirational goals that sound good but don't reflect the reality of their business or what it takes to succeed.
- They are imposed, not discovered: They are handed down from on high, without acknowledging the values that are already present in the company's most successful teams.
The better approach is to acknowledge what is already there. Look at your best performers and your most successful projects. What were the underlying principles that drove that success? Was it relentless user focus? Pragmatic problem-solving? Deep collaboration? Build upon those existing strengths to set a level of expectation that encourages continued success.
The Contagious Nature of Integrity
Ultimately, the document doesn't matter. The only thing that gives values meaning is the visible, consistent, and unwavering commitment of the leadership team to uphold them, especially when it is difficult or inconvenient.
As a leader, following your own rules is the most effective example you can set.
- When you publicly praise a team for stopping a release to fix a quality issue, you prove that "Quality" is a real value, not just a word.
- When you take ownership of a failure instead of blaming your team, you prove that "Accountability" is a core principle.
This behavior is contagious. When a team sees its leader living the values, it gives them permission and encouragement to do the same. It creates a culture where the right thing to do is the easy thing to do, because it is the example that is set every single day.