Every leader tells me values are important.
Then I ask a different question.
“Can you tell me about a difficult decision your leadership team made recently—and how your values influenced that decision?”
That’s when the conversation usually changes.
Most organizations have values. They’re printed in annual reports, displayed on office walls, included in employee handbooks, and highlighted during orientation. Leaders can often recite them from memory.
But after consulting with organizations for more than three decades, I’ve discovered something surprising.
Many companies don’t have a values problem.
They have an alignment problem.
The values are visible. They’re just not consistently influencing behaviour.
Over time, they become part of the décor instead of part of the culture.
Values Aren’t Meant to Decorate Culture—They’re Meant to Drive It
I’ve found that organizations often spend months selecting the right words—integrity, respect, teamwork, accountability, excellence—but only a few hours discussing what those words actually mean in practice.
That’s where the breakdown begins.
Ask ten leaders to define accountability, and you’ll often hear ten different answers.
One leader believes accountability means close supervision.
Another believes it means empowering people with greater autonomy.
Both sincerely believe they’re living the company’s values.
The issue isn’t commitment.
It’s clarity.
Values only influence culture when people share a common understanding of the behaviours those values represent.
Otherwise, everyone interprets them through their own experiences, personalities, and priorities.
There Are Actually Two Sets of Values
One of the biggest mistakes organizations make is focusing only on company values.
Every employee already walks into work with an existing set of personal values that influence how they make decisions, resolve conflict, define success, respond to change, and build relationships.
Those values don’t disappear when someone accepts a job offer.
In fact, they often explain why two highly competent people approach the exact same situation very differently.
This is why leadership becomes much easier when we understand both.
Individual values explain why people naturally behave the way they do.
Organizational values establish how we choose to work together.
Healthy cultures intentionally align both.
Pressure Reveals What We Really Value
It’s relatively easy to talk about values when business is thriving.
The real test comes during uncertainty.
Economic pressure.
A difficult customer.
A disappointing quarter.
A restructuring.
Those moments reveal what the organization truly values.
Employees don’t determine your culture by reading the mission statement.
They determine it by watching how leaders behave when the pressure increases.
Every hiring decision…
Every promotion…
Every difficult conversation…
Every budget decision…
Quietly communicates what leadership actually values.
Those daily decisions shape culture far more than any poster ever will.
The Leavitt Lesson
One project that reinforced this for me was our work with Leavitt Machinery.
Like many successful organizations, they understood the importance of values. But the goal wasn’t simply to create a list of admirable words. The objective was to build clarity and alignment throughout the organization so values became practical decision-making tools rather than inspirational statements.
As we worked with the leadership team, conversations shifted from “What values do we want?” to much more useful questions:
“How will these values influence hiring?”
“How will they shape or leadership style?”
“How will managers coach employees?”
“How will we make difficult decisions when two priorities compete?”
That’s when values become operational.
Culture changes because leaders begin making decisions consistently, and employees know what to expect.
Trust grows because behaviour matches intention.
Self-Awareness Comes First
Throughout my career, I’ve often said that self-awareness is the foundation of effective leadership.
Values are one of the most important parts of that awareness.
Until people understand what truly drives their own decisions, they often assume everyone else sees the world the same way they do.
That assumption creates unnecessary conflict.
Leaders become more effective when they recognize both their own priorities and the different values that influence the people around them.
Instead of asking, “Why don’t they think like I do?” they begin asking, “What matters most to them, and how can we align around what matters most to us as an organization?”
That single shift transforms conversations.
Questions Worth Asking
If someone observed your leadership team for six months without ever seeing your published values, what would they conclude your organization truly values?
Would your employees identify the same priorities that appear on your website?
Would customers experience those values consistently?
Would newly promoted leaders know how to apply those values in difficult situations?
And perhaps the most important question of all:
Are your organizational values aligned with the values of the people you expect to live them?
The answers to those questions often explain why some organizations develop extraordinary cultures while others struggle despite having beautifully written value statements.
At CRG, we’ve spent decades helping leaders answer those questions. Our Values Preference Indicator (VPI) helps individuals identify the values that shape their decisions, relationships, and leadership. Our Team Values Indicator (TVI) helps leadership teams clarify the values that define their culture and create behavioural alignment across the organization. Combined with our What Do You Really Value? e-course, these tools move values off the wall and into everyday leadership—where they become the foundation for stronger decisions, greater trust, and healthier organizational cultures.