How To Turn Your Company Values Into Behaviors People Can See

In brief

A value only becomes culture when people can see it in what someone does.
Turning values into behaviors means answering three questions: what does this look like here, how much does each role need, and are we getting it?
Start with one value. Get it right before you do the rest.

Most companies have values. Very few have described what those values look like on a Tuesday afternoon.

That’s the gap. “Integrity” on the wall doesn’t tell a new manager what to do when a customer is wrong and a deal is on the line. “Teamwork” doesn’t tell anyone whether to speak up in a meeting or back the decision quietly. Without that, every employee fills in the meaning on their own, and the culture becomes whatever people guess. (It’s the same gap between what a company says and what it does.)

Here’s how to close it.

Step 1: Start with one value

Don’t try to translate your whole values list at once. Pick the one that matters most right now, often the one you hear quoted the most and see practiced the least. Get that one right, and the others go faster.

Step 2: Ask what it looks like here

The same value means different things at different companies. That’s because every company has a personality, and the personality shapes how a value gets lived.

Take teamwork. At a company built on belonging and connection, teamwork might look like checking in on a coworker who’s struggling and making sure no one gets left out of a decision. At a company built on challenge and results, teamwork might look like telling a colleague their plan has a flaw before it reaches the customer.

Both are teamwork. They aren’t the same behavior. So the first question isn’t “what does teamwork mean?” It’s “what does teamwork look like at our company?”

Step 3: Write it as something you can see

A behavior is an action someone can observe. A good test: could two managers watch the same moment and agree on whether it happened?

Not a behavior: “Is a team player.”
A behavior: “Shares what they know with the team before being asked.”
Not a behavior: “Has integrity.”
A behavior: “Tells the customer what we can’t do, even when it costs the sale.”

If you can’t picture it happening, rewrite it until you can.

Step 4: Describe it at each level

A value looks different for a new employee than it does for an executive. Describe the behavior for each level of your company, for example:

Individual contributor: how it shows up in their own work.
Team lead or supervisor: how they model it and expect it from the team.
Manager: how they build it into how the team runs.
Senior leader: how they protect it across teams, especially under pressure.
Executive: how they make decisions that keep it true for the whole company.

This is what tells people how much of the behavior their role actually needs.

Step 5: Describe too little and too much

Most companies only describe what good looks like. That leaves out the two ways a behavior goes wrong.

Too little: the behavior isn’t there. People keep what they know to themselves.
On target: the behavior shows up the way your culture needs it.
Too much: the behavior crowds out something else. Sharing everything turns into slowing every decision down.

The “too much” side matters more than most leaders expect. It’s usually your culture’s own strength, overused, and it’s hard to see because it looks like success.

Step 6: Put it to work

A behavior written in a document still isn’t culture. It becomes culture when it’s built into how people are hired, onboarded, reviewed and promoted.

Hiring: ask candidates for an example of the behavior, and listen for the action, not the adjective. Here’s more on how to hire for a culture you’ve named.
Onboarding: show new hires what the behavior looks like in their role in the first weeks.
Reviews: rate the behavior alongside the results. Here’s how to add behaviors to your performance review.
Promotions: promote people who show the behavior at the next level, not only the ones with the best numbers.

Once one value works this way, move to the next. That’s how a values list becomes a culture people can actually see.

Start here

Find the personality behind your values

It starts with naming your culture’s personality. The Culture Quiz gives you a first read in a few minutes.

Take the Culture Quiz

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a value and a behavior?

A value is a principle a company says matters, like integrity or teamwork. A behavior is the specific action that shows that value at work, something you can see and describe.

How many behaviors should each value have?

Fewer than you think. Two or three clear behaviors per value, described at each level, are more useful than a long list nobody remembers.

Why do company values fail?

Usually because they stay as words. If a value isn’t described as behaviors and built into hiring, reviews and promotions, people fill in the meaning themselves.

Who should write the behaviors?

Leaders should own them, with input from employees at every level. HR can guide the process, but the behaviors have to sound like how work really gets done at your company.