Today’s companies and organizations are moving to the world of digital and telecommuting. The task team has become distributed in different regions worldwide, which increases the importance of creating a strong cornerstone that brings them together and directs their work compass by the organization’s culture and spirit.

Do you seek to unify your employees’ vision, attract new talented employees to your organization, or just want to create a compass that organizes the workflow? The value statement is an effective tool to achieve everything you want.

In this article, you will learn about the value statement as an essential component of any business you intend to do and find practical examples of successful brands that put you on the right path to preparing your organization’s value statement.

What is a Value Statement?

The value statement is not only an essential component for the company management but also an important element in identifying the company, which the latter seeks to spread among its audience and employees. It means that the value statement is a document that summarizes the principles and priorities that guide the organization’s policy and culture, and defines behaviours, ethical standards, and forms of communication between employees with each other and with customers. In other words, the value statement is the moral compass of the foundation and its employees.

The Importance of an Organization’s Value Statement

The organization primarily seeks to create a unique impression and perception in the minds of its audience and employees, the goal that the value statement achieves. It reflects the organization’s beliefs and concepts and defines its identity and the value it provides.

It goes beyond guiding the tasks that must be taken. Most importantly, the value statement creates a social communication environment within the organization that reflects positively on the work by building a safe work environment and a viable community for growth and success with the team spirit.

The value statement also represents the organization’s spirit as it creates a unique cultural environment. If you seek to gather your employees around basic concepts, show them what you expect from them and how to act and deal with each other and your audience and customers; By that, you create a coherent institution all its members work for one goal.

The Difference between Value, Vision, and Mission

The value statement refers to your organization’s priorities, practices and modus operandi. The mission statement expresses the purpose of the foundation’s existence by describing its goal and what it aims to achieve in the short term. The vision statement is the company’s long-term vision that reflects the company’s general goals which it seeks to achieve.

The value statement should reflect the organization’s beliefs, as it is the cornerstone for determining the appropriate contexts of the tasks and matters required for the work stages, and the correct method of implementation and conduct. To make it easier for you to understand the value statement, think of it as a set of instructions and guidelines that reflect the spirit of the organization.

On the other hand, the mission statement tends to be executive, reflecting the company’s existence reason. It indicates what the organization aims to achieve in the short term by focusing on the team’s tasks. The general objectives the company seeks to achieve in the long term are reflected in the vision statement, which includes the company’s vision for itself after several years and shows its view of the field in which it operates and society in the broader sense and how it will affect them. 

How to Write a Value Statement 

After knowing the benefits your organization gains from having a value statement, it’s time to learn how to write your organization’s value statement that reflects its spirit and culture. This paragraph will show you the steps you need:

1- Brainstorming

Start by brainstorming ideas for values ​​that suit your organization. You can do it alone, in collaboration with your organization members, or both. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What is my goal in founding the foundation?
• Do the organization’s staff represent this goal, and what matters most to them?
• What matters to clients and shareholders of the organization?
• Which behaviours should I accept or refuse?
• What criteria do I use to choose whom to deal with within the framework of the institution’s work?
• What characteristics and features do I like about other companies and individuals?
• What societal impact does the organization seek?

Gather your and your team’s answers to these questions; try to cover different perspectives so that the ideas you come up with are as comprehensive as possible.

2- Narrow the List

After you have collected the ideas, limit the values ​​ you find most appropriate for your organization to three to ten values only, and try to cover all aspects of your organization’s activity.

3- Collect Employee Reviews

It is useless to prepare a value statement for the organization without involving its members, allowing them to present their ideas and what they find appropriate to express the organization’s values. In addition, such participation would increase the sense of responsibility and commitment, including everyone’s value statement.

You can take this step either through a questionnaire, a task you request to implement, or a general meeting of the organization. However, this step mustn’t be forgotten, for its importance create a sense of commitment and responsibility among your employees towards the value statement to which they are contributed and truly express them.

4- Close the Menu

After the participation of all members in drafting the value statement, choose the best ideas and arrange them, then rephrase them in a powerful, influential way. Avoid adding thoughts or words that do not add value to the statement or are irrelevant to the organization.

5- How to Apply the Values Contained in the Statement

Your organization’s value statement is now definitively ready, but the work is yet to be finished. Before you officially announce it to your organization members, you need to determine how to apply each item so you can show your employees how to use the value on the ground. 

The statement includes the value of responsibility. For example, you say that we take responsibility for our work daily. This sentence helps employees understand what exactly is required of this value and how to apply it.

6- Submit the Statement to your Organization’s Members

Hold a formal meeting for the entire company to officially announce their organization’s value statement, and do more than send it through a mass email to employees. Allow them to discuss and ask questions in order to improve it as much as possible.

Benefits of Preparing a Value Statement

Many companies and organizations develop their value statement just because they believe they need it. However, the matter goes beyond that because the value statement is a major component of the organization resulting in many benefits and positives.

Here are some of those benefits that the Value Statement helps you achieve.

1- Promoting Affection and Friendship

The value statement gives your organization’s individuals and employees something to gather around. In addition, the value statement as a set of instructions and guidelines shapes the organization’s culture, helps employees understand the goal that the organization seeks, regulates their actions and sets expectations for employees’ behaviour.

2- Encouraging Transparency

A clear value statement reflects an organization’s credibility, demonstrating to customers and employees what the organization does, delivers, and seeks, which means that you promote open dialogue and questioning. One of the surveys conducted by Glassdoor’s US website confirms this importance, showing that 90% of job seekers find that transparency and credibility are the most critical factors that drive them to work with the organization.

3- Attracting Outstanding Talents

According to a questionnaire by Accountemps, the company culture is the third most important thing for job seekers after pay and vacation dates until 2018. And because the value statement is an essential part of company culture, and your ability to accurately reflect your priorities in the organization’s value statement, you will succeed in attracting and joining talented people and keeping them with you.

4- Increase your Business

A clear and distinct value statement helps keep your organization away from the competition and shows current and potential customers what your business is.

The more you attract and maintain clients due to your organization’s value statement, the greater your chance of building a solid long-term relationship with them in light of shared values ​​and principles created between you.

Practical Value Statement Examples of Successful Companies and Brands

In order to develop a value statement that is appropriate and correct for your organization, it is useful for you to look at some examples of successful companies and brands that help you understand what a value statement means and what values ​​these companies focus on.

1- Google Inc

• Focusing on the customer in the first place.
• Speed in performance ​​is a priority.
• Learning is a continuous process that does not stop at school.
• Making money is accomplished by doing elaborate things.
• The need for knowledge goes beyond all boundaries.
• Seriousness at work is not limited to uniforms.
• Saying “great” is not enough.

2- Nike Corporation

• Innovation is a human trait.
• The customer is the compass and the decision-maker.
• Fast learning
• Doing the right thing.
• Master the basics.
• We are always in the spotlight.
• Simplicity is the point.
• Always remember Bill Powerman– Nike’s First Founder.

3- Coca-Cola Company

• Leadership: Be brave to build a better future.
• Collaboration: Encourage collective genius.
• Integrity: be honest.
• Responsibility: If so, the decision is mine.
• Passion: Commitment of heart and mind.
• Diversity: Our brand reaches everyone.
• Quality: We master what we do.

4- Hubspot Inc

• Humility.
• Empathy.
• Coping.
• Transparency.
• Excellence.

5- Facebook Company

• Focus on creating impact.
• Move quickly.
• Be open.
• Build a social value.
• Be courageous and bold.

In conclusion, the importance of writing a value statement for any organization or business increases with its start, in conjunction with employers’ growing interest in creating a comfortable work environment and uniting its employees around one goal they all strive to achieve in a team spirit.