Values in an organization need to be tangible...
If we make them tangible, then we don’t know what they are made of and what people need to do to live them.
If you to to most company websites and you we can easily find the typical values:
-We are Innovative -We are Collaborative -We are Passionate
That's great, but without defining what they mean in behavioral terms, they will end up meaning different things to different people in the organization.
So what should you do about it? Well, make sure you have Behaviors attached to those values, because without the behaviors you can’t bring values to life.
If your org says: (Value) Be Collaborative ----> it could mean: (Behavior) Employees regularly consult at least two colleagues from different teams before finalizing a decision.
When I advise and work with clients who are re-evaluating their company culture, I also have them think about what those values don’t mean, so you remove more ambiguity and give higher clarity.
Remember, when we remove ambiguity about the values and add behaviors that need to be lived you are able to focus on supporting people from an individual, social, and system level.
The reason we care about behaviors is because behaviors are actually observable and measurable - meaning they are tangible and not fluffy.
So if you really want to reinvent your culture, you need to add a more behaviorally informed ways of working to your existing frameworks and tools be that Schein, OCAI, CVM etc.. - it will give you more confidence and reduce the risks that come from not being specific about what you mean and what you want to enable change in your organization.
Have you matched and then enabled values with behaviors in mind?