ThemeStrategy & Direction
CardCard 66 of 66
Questions5 to explore

Values

Values you are guided by

Values are easy to state and hard to document in a way that is actually useful when a decision gets difficult.

Most organizations can tell you their values. Far fewer can show you examples of where those values were applied in a difficult situation, where they conflicted with each other, or where they were revised because the original articulation no longer fit. That gap is what separates values as decoration from values as genuine organizational memory.

Capturing values for organizational memory means capturing more than the list. It means capturing the interpretation: what each value looks like in a real situation, what it does not mean, and where the organization has found the edges of it. That context is what allows new people to use the values as actual guides rather than background noise.

Values also evolve. When the articulation changes, or when the interpretation shifts, that change should be recorded and explained. Future leaders and team members should be able to trace how the organization's values developed, not just read the current version.

What to capture

For this part of the company brain, what is worth writing down and keeping current. The goal is not a complete archive but a living record that new people can read and returning people can trust.

Values in plain language

The current values stated simply, with a plain-language interpretation of what each one actually means in this organization's context, not just the word or phrase itself.

Values in action

Real examples of where each value was used to guide a decision or behavior, especially in situations where the right answer was not obvious.

Where values have been tested

Situations where the values came under pressure, conflicted with each other, or turned out to be harder to apply than expected, and what was decided.

Evolution of values

How the values have changed over time, including earlier versions, what was dropped or added, and the reasoning behind the changes.

Questions to explore

Use these on your own or in a group. There are no right answers, only better conversations.

Can everyone in the organization explain what each value means in practice, not just recite it?
Where have the values been explicitly used to make a decision in the last year, and is that documented?
Have the values ever conflicted with each other in practice, and how was that resolved?
How have the values changed since the organization was founded, and what caused those changes?
Which value is most frequently misunderstood or applied inconsistently, and is there guidance on how to interpret it?

Things to notice

Values written as single words or short phrases require interpretation; without documented examples, each person develops their own understanding and the values lose their shared meaning.
The gap between stated values and actual organizational behavior is a reality in most organizations; acknowledging that gap honestly is more useful than pretending it does not exist.
Values documents tend to be revisited only during crises or rebrands; building in a regular review prevents the articulation from drifting away from what the organization is actually practicing.