Creating Your Values

1. Know what values are.
2. Create a list of the attributes your company values or aspires to value. Values can be aspirational.
   • Who creates the list of company values? A founder can do this independently or with their leadership team. Alternatively, many companies create values in collaboration with their staff (through surveys, focus groups, and working groups).
3. Document them, ideally with descriptions about what they mean or why they are important.
4. Make your values part of your company culture by keeping them front and center. Recruit based on your values. Measure & reward performance based on your values. Promote based on your values. Use values as a lens for all facets of managing your people and creating your culture.

What Are Values?

Values are basic and fundamental beliefs that guide or motivate attitudes or actions. They help us to determine what is important to us. Values describe the personal qualities we choose to embody to guide our actions; the sort of person we want to be; the manner in which we treat ourselves and others, and our interaction with the world around us. They provide the general guidelines for conduct. Values…[are] that which is good, desirable, or worthwhile. -Ethics Sage

Examples of Company Values

A Cloud Guru

• Learn all the things—We bring an insatiable curiosity to our roles every day.
• Be hungry, stay humble—We always bring our A-game, never our ego.
• Keep it fun—We take our work seriously, but not ourselves.
• Champion the customer—We connect with and truly care about our customers.
• Own our outcomes—We hold ourselves accountable, as individuals and teams.

Asana

• Focus on our Mission.
• Clarity.
• Co-Creation.
• Reject False Tradeoffs.