At the end of the day, the organization is going to do what it’s going to do, right? So maybe a better question is: why do we even have core values?

We’ve probably all come across sets of core values that were easy to make fun of or were too vague to impact anyone. But well constructed, specific core values can add tremendous benefit both to organizations and individuals. In fact, here are three ways I’ve seen this happen.

Drive Culture

Every organization is driven by a number of things. Hopefully there is a clear purpose that all stakeholders know by heart. Customer value creation ought to drive action. If your organization is a company, earning a profit ought to be at least one of the drivers. But none of these should come at the expense of core values. Each driver should align and core values should empower the organization to move forward.

Wouldn’t you prefer to work in a values-driven organizational culture? Imagine what could happen in an organization without values. A quick look at the news and you’ll see many examples.

Influence Mindsets and Behaviors

As most of us have observed, nearly every organizations have a set of core values. Sometimes they even get talked about, which a great step. But how often are they referenced or recalled? To take it a step further, how often do they invoke personal change?

If your organization has core values, they need to be part of the corporate conversation. Then you’ve got to relate them to the way people think and act in the context of everyday situations. Point out when the values were present. “Our team did a great job demonstrating ________.” Use values-oriented language to assess future work. “Here’s an opportunity for our team to demonstrate _________.”

Over time, common language begins to turn into common mindsets and common behavior.

Guide Decision-Making

In any organization, there are many leaders who operate at many levels. The temptation for new or risk-averse leaders can sometimes be to push the difficult decisions up to the next level. Once this happens enough times, the leaders at the top start wondering why they have to solve every problem and make every decision that comes their way. What’s the point of having leaders if they don’t take responsibility, they wonder.

That’s where organizational strategy comes in. That’s where training comes in. And that’s also where core values come in. These are the tools every leader ought to be able to use to make the decisions appropriate for his or her level.

Core values enhance leadership responsibility by helping to guide decision-making.

So the next time you look at your core values, ask yourself what difference they make in your organization. If that answer is “not much,” it may be time for a refresh. Or it may be time to simply speak up.

What difference do your core values make?

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

Mindsets

Mindsets are crucial since they drive behavior. Therefore it follows that if we can change the way people think, their behavior will change as well. But you can’t get there without first identifying the current mindsets that exist as well as the ones you want to replace them with. Maybe employees see training as on-the-clock vacation and you want them to see it as a critical part of their development. Maybe they view leadership as the ability to fight fires and you want leadership to be viewed as the ability to manage proactively so that fires don’t occur. Or they could they see leadership as the ability to execute tasks and instead you want leadership to be seen as the ability to empower others to execute. It could be any number of things, technical or strategic. The key question to identify is: how does the organization (or department or team) think currently and how should it think differently?

Processes & Infrastructure

The temptation at this point is to develop a communication campaign or training to convince everyone of the benefits the new mindsets will bring to the organization. But just identifying new mindsets (no matter how good they are) is not enough. They need the supporting processes and infrastructure to be in place to make the change possible.

To illustrate, imagine a mayor of a city speaking fervently about the benefits of public subway transportation. It will save people money, use less gas and open up access to different parts of the metro area. You are sold. The only problem is, the city doesn’t actually have any tracks (no supporting infrastructure). Or, if they do, you have to fill out 10 forms, navigate a complicated website and wait six months to get your pass approved (exasperating process). So you simply stick with driving. That’s what happens when your processes and infrastructure don’t support the new mindsets. As good as it may be, people won’t embrace a change that doesn’t work.

Roles & Responsibilities

Ultimately, a new culture change is still just wishful thinking until everyone is given responsibility for embodying it at their level. While mindsets drive behavior, behavior is much easier to measure. And ultimately, changed behavior should translate into new business results (also measurable). Whether the new behaviors and results become integrated into performance objectives or business analytics, they need to be visible, not as sticks, but carrots. What gets recognized and rewarded gets repeated. Remember Zig Ziglar’s mantra, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Show people how embracing the new mindsets, utilizing the new (or existing) processes and infrastructure and accepting the new roles and responsibilities will not only improve the culture of the organization, but will set them up for success as well.

In all of this, what we can’t allow ourselves to forget is Miller’s last point: model it. If the leaders in any organization don’t model the change they’re selling, no implementation strategy will sell it for them. So see and shape the future, but don’t forget to always embody the values. Actions will always speak louder than words.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website or   follow him on Twitter.