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Organizational Cultural Values to Consider

Written by: Roger Ingbretsen

Article Overview: Every organization has a culture, the way things get done, how people react and how people are treated. Most organizations do not spend time truly creating a desired culture, but rather, leave its creation to chance. Oh there may be statements on the wall that were created at a one day off-site meeting, but sadly they remain just that...statements. This article provides insight into "values" which can be used to begin the process of truly creating the culture which will best serve your organization.

Organizational Cultural Values to Consider

The following values followed by an accompanying value statement are offered as suggested starting points you can consider using for your organization. The Values and value statements can be modified to best fit your desired culture.

We Value – Customer Service, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Focus, Client Focus

Energy must be focused on serving customers (both internal and external) in a way that creates the kind of value where they will view our organization as fundamental to their success. Every member of the organization must understand the important contribution they make in this partnership with the customer.


We Value – Personal Responsibility, Personal Effectiveness, Personal Learning, Personal Growth, Intellectual Capital, Personal Talent

Every employee is vital to organizational success. Accordingly, each member of the organization must dedicate themselves to creating and supporting a work environment based on personal responsibility and continuously increasing individual as well as collective intellectual capital.


We Value – Challenging the Status Quo, Change Acceptance, Risk Taking, Innovation, Creative Thinking

Customers operate in an environment where rapid change occurs at an accelerating pace. Because of this continuous change, the organization must be committed to understanding customers like no one else. The organization must value change and see it as an ally. Employees must understand that it is through their individual contributions to the change process that their clients succeed in a world of constantly evolving business needs. Challenging the status quo and risk taking, helps the organization shape both its own future as well as that of their customer.

We Value – Inspired Leadership, Personal Leadership, Shared Leadership, Distributed Leadership, Responsible Leadership, Transformational Leadership, Coaching Leadership

We encourage every employee at every level to adopt a leadership spirit in all that they do. We believe that in order to excel everyone must be aligned with a clearly expressed vision and organizational direction. We must be absolutely clear about holding ourselves to the highest standards of ethics and integrity. We accept responsibility for our customers, our employees and their families, and to the communities in which we live and work. We believe our fullest potential is based in our dedication to developing those who will lead in the future.

We Value – Fairness, Inclusiveness, Diversity, Adaptability, Belonging

A fundamental tenet of our core values is the belief that every employee adds unique value to the organization. We embrace the idea that diversity is a competitive advantage we must promote and protect. We will actively invite and include ideas from across the organization to better serve our customers. We will always strive to show respect for the dignity of every individual. Inclusiveness and diversity of thought expands our personal and collective knowledge.

We Value – Quality and Excellence Everywhere, Delivering Results, Attaining Best-in-class, Exceeding Expectations

We will be unrelenting and uncompromising in our pursuit of quality and reliability in our products and services. Our overarching goal is to be the unsurpassed standard of excellence for others to use as the yardstick by which they measure themselves. We will not accept less than our honest best efforts to meet our obligations to our customers and to each other. We will not accept shortcuts to meeting the high standards we profess, nor will we shrink from the goals we have set for ourselves.

We Value – Teamwork When Necessary, Responding as a Team, Supporting Each Other as a Team, Team Achievement

We believe our success requires a commitment to teamwork at all levels of the organization. Teamwork involves combining the skills, talent, knowledge, and experience of all employees in a coordinated manner, realizing that narrow definitions of self-interest serve neither our customers, nor us. We embrace teamwork in principle and in practice through mutual support, encouragement and accountability, believing that by working together as a team and sharing knowledge, we can achieve much greater results than by only working as individuals.

Now is the time to take a moment to analyze the alignment of your cultural values with the mission, vision and strategies of your organization. Start with the process of documenting {in three to eight words) your six to eight organizational values. Feel free to use the examples provided here, modifying them so they best describe your “desired” culture. Develop value statements (twenty to sixty words) that are a best fit for your organization. Then assemble small teams to further discuss and refine the statements to get both buy-in and best fit statements. The goal is to develop values and statements tailored for your organization - Statements that will become the way you act both as individuals and as an organization.

Copyright Information:

You MAY reprint the information contained in this article as long as no portion of the contents are modified and it used “exclusively” within your organization. You must also give credit to information by including the tag line...

Roger M. Ingbretsen, Author, Speaker, Leadership Coach, Organizational and career developer For more information, visit www.ingbretsen.com or call 509 999 7008.

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Article Tags: client focus, coaching leadership, continuous change, creative thinking, customer focus, focus energy, intellectual capital, leadership coaching, organizational success, personal effectiveness, personal leadership, personal learning, personal responsibility, personal talent, rapid change, responsible leadership, service customer satisfaction, value customer service, value statements, work environment



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Re: Essential Leadership skills - Vision Values Mission Strategic Thinking Decision Making Communication Team Bonding People Development Coaching / Mentoring / Guiding / Grooming Presentation Thanks Robert
HRPreneur - Hi everyone, I am new to the forum and I recently started my own Human Capital (HR) consulting firm called HRPreneur Inc. HRP focuses on making human capital a strategic differentiator for SME's. Below is a summary about HRP; Who We Are: HRP is a Human Capital consulting firm with 30 years of experience that becomes an extension of your company by providing a full array of services to help you create a highly engaged workforce focused on achieving strategic results in order to build a long lasting great company! Mission: HRP provides small and medium sized businesses a Strategic HR Business Partner to increase employee engagement, resulting in cost savings, increased productivity and results at an affordable rate! Vision: To inspire and warrant SME's reach their full competency! Cost Effectiveness: We provide over 30 years of experience at a fraction of the cost at a strategic executive HR business level You will save between 50% to 60% in costs per year on salary, bonus, benefits, training, office space alone We will provide you additional cost efficiencies through our services Services: • Strategic Human Resources Planning • Organizational Redesign • Change Management • Organizational Culture Development • Employee Engagement Programs • Leadership Assessment and Development • Compensation Design • Talent Acquisition • Assimilation and On-Boarding • Performance Management • Talent Management & Succession Planning • Human Resources Due Diligence • Human Resources Audit • Full Service HR Outsourcing


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