Culture. It’s something many people talk about, but often don’t effort to create. And when they don’t do so, it becomes assumed – which isn’t what you want.
The problem is, if you want a “great” culture by your own definition, the only way to have it is to create it. You and your leadership team MUST be the conduit for every employee to own it, understand it, define it with their behaviors and value it as their own; because it is.
As leaders we set the table for it, we create the context out of which it occurs.
Core values are at the center of any great culture, and they are the heart of what creates culture.
If your values are on the wall and you don’t use them as a measurement for success on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, they are a good idea, not a way for people to determine their “fit” for your work community. They also are not a way to measure behavior if you’re not using them.
Recently I was delivering a keynote about core values, and I summed it up this way:
Core values determine your culture; your culture determines behavior; and behavior determines performance.
If you’re having issues with performance or behavior, or your culture isn’t where you want it to be, check in with your core values and see how you and your leadership team are doing relative to them. You’ll know exactly what to do to affect the change you want. The question is, will you do it? Because where you go, they go.