Corporate Values You See, Touch, and Feel

It gets my pulse going when I sense people walk into a workplace with pride in the values that drive the organization.

One of the most important parts of my work is helping people identify the values in their company and then making these values mean something when designed into a workplace environment. These values, when combined with beliefs and behaviors of how an organization communicates, works, and comes together, define what many call their corporate culture. But you can’t be proud of your corporate culture values unless you truly and authentically own them. And if you don’t own them, your corporate culture doesn’t mean much, does it?

“Walk the talk” is another way of explaining what I mean. Sadly, too many companies stumble, not walk! I listen to a lot of talk about corporate culture and values. But unless these values are lived out in action—that is, to create an engaging, healthy, safe, and welcoming working environment—your signs on the walls are pretty much meaningless. Leadership guru Patrick Lencioni (author of one of the world’s bestselling books on leadership, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team) writes, “If they’re going to really take hold in your organization, your core values need to be integrated into every employee-related process—hiring methods, performance management systems, criteria for promotions and rewards, and even dismissal policies.”

Well, I would add “office space design.”