When was the last time you revisited your company’s core values? Are they inspiring your team, or are they just pretty words framed on the wall? If it’s the latter, it’s time for a refresh! Core values shouldn’t be stagnant; they’re meant to drive your company’s everyday operations. Let’s explore seven super creative and unique ways to bring those values to life, so they don’t just inspire but also energize your team from top to bottom.
- Gamify Your Core Values
Who doesn’t love a little fun at work? Inject some playfulness into your values by gamifying them. Here's how:
Create a Values-Based Scavenger Hunt: Imagine a scavenger hunt where employees have to solve puzzles or complete tasks that relate to your core values. For example, if teamwork is one of your values, create challenges that can only be solved through collaboration.
Digital Badges or Points System: Create a system where employees earn points or digital badges when they exemplify a core value. You can build a leaderboard or even offer small rewards like extra time off or company swag for employees who consistently live the values.
This approach not only reinforces your values but also boosts engagement and healthy competition.
Bring Values to Life Through Storytelling
Everyone loves a good story, and storytelling can help solidify your core values in the minds of your employees. Share real-life examples from your own organization where core values made a difference and celebrate these moments publicly.
Employee Spotlights: Showcase employees who have gone above and beyond in living a core value. Share their stories in company-wide emails or meetings. It adds a personal touch and makes the values feel more relevant and attainable.
Create a Values Library: Encourage employees to submit stories, videos, or even short skits that demonstrate core values in action. Collect these into a "Values Library" that can be shared on your company’s intranet or during onboarding for new hires.
When employees see others being recognized for upholding values, it builds a sense of shared purpose and pride.
- Turn Values Into Interactive Workshops
Workshops don’t have to be boring! Turn your core values into interactive, hands-on learning sessions where employees can brainstorm how to apply them in their daily work.
Team Values Workshops: Hold small group workshops where employees dive deep into each core value. Break teams into smaller groups and ask them to come up with creative ways the value can be lived within their specific department. The group then presents their ideas to leadership.
Role-Playing Exercises: Ever thought about role-playing core values? Set up scenarios where teams have to act out difficult situations that require them to apply company values, such as resolving a conflict or handling an ethical dilemma. This allows them to practice in a low-pressure environment.
Interactive workshops make the values more tangible, and employees can directly see how the values translate into action.
- Design Value-Themed Challenges
Want to get your team excited? Challenge them! Set up monthly or quarterly challenges where teams compete to show how they can best live a particular core value.
Departmental Competitions: Let’s say “innovation” is one of your values. Set up a competition where each department presents their most innovative idea to improve operations. Reward the best idea with a prize, or better yet, implement it.
“Core Values Champion” Award: Create a rotating award that highlights one employee who went above and beyond in representing the company’s values. Each month, the winner can display a trophy or badge at their desk, gaining a bit of recognition and bragging rights.
These challenges create excitement and also provide practical examples of how to live the values day-to-day.
- Weave Values Into Decision-Making Processes
Values are most powerful when they influence how decisions are made. Make your core values a central part of decision-making at every level.
Value Check-In: Before making any major decision, pause for a "Value Check-In." Ask yourself or your team: “How does this decision reflect our core values?” This can apply to everything from hiring new employees to rolling out a new product.
Integrate Into Goal Setting: When teams or individuals set quarterly or annual goals, have them tie those goals back to core values. For example, a customer service department could set a goal to increase customer satisfaction while reflecting the company’s value of “customer first.”
This ensures that values are not just discussed but acted upon in concrete ways.
- Create Values-Based “Hot Seats”
The “hot seat” isn’t as scary as it sounds—it’s actually a fun way to test employees’ understanding of your values and how they apply to real situations.
Scenario-Based Hot Seat: During team meetings, have one employee sit in the "hot seat" where they’re given a hypothetical work scenario that challenges a core value. For instance, a scenario might involve a tough decision about cutting corners versus delivering quality. The person in the hot seat has to explain how they’d handle the situation, based on the company’s values.
Cross-Departmental Hot Seat: To encourage cross-departmental understanding, have employees from different areas of the company sit in the hot seat to tackle a problem outside their usual job. This gives them a new perspective on how values can be applied across the organization.
This interactive approach helps solidify the values while offering employees a fun, engaging way to practice them.
- Values-Driven Slack Channels or Teams Groups
In today’s digital workplaces, many employees work remotely or across various time zones. How do you ensure that core values still permeate the organization? Start with the tools your team already uses, like Slack or Microsoft Teams.
Create Values Channels: Dedicate specific channels for celebrating core values in action. Employees can post shout-outs to colleagues who exemplify a core value that week. These shout-outs can be simple (“Sally showed amazing teamwork on the client project!”) or detailed.
Weekly Values Challenges: Use these digital spaces to issue weekly values challenges. For instance, if "creativity" is one of your values, challenge employees to share one creative solution they came up with during the week. This keeps values top-of-mind, even in remote environments.
Having a dedicated space to live your values digitally helps reinforce them across the entire team, no matter where people are physically located.
Core Values as Daily Drivers
Refreshing your company’s core values doesn’t have to be a daunting task. By making them part of everyday operations in creative, engaging ways, you ensure they remain relevant and powerful. Whether you gamify your values, turn them into fun challenges, or weave them into your decision-making processes, the key is to make sure they’re always in action—not just something people see on a poster once a year.
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