Why company values do not change behaviour - and what does

Integrity. Innovation. People First. Excellence. Respect. Walk into almost any office and you will find some version of these on a wall, a screensaver or the back of a lanyard.

They are chosen because nobody votes against integrity in the values workshop. And because they can be attached to almost any behaviour without ever being specific enough to hold anyone accountable.

The test

When was the last time someone in a leadership meeting said, "This decision conflicts with our value of respect, and before we go further I want us to deal with that"? When was the last time someone was promoted mainly for how they lived the values, and not for hitting the number?

A value you would act on even if it costs you something is a value. A value that has never once changed a decision is decoration.

I am not saying values are worthless. I am saying the opposite. Values are the most important thing a leader has - when they are personal, specific and hard-won.

What makes values real

Behaviour, visible and repeated. A leader who takes notes in every one-to-one and follows up on what was said. A team that starts every difficult conversation with a question before an instruction. Phones away in meetings, enforced first by the most senior person in the room. Nobody needs a poster to understand what those leaders stand for.

Where to start

Ask each of your managers to write down three things they genuinely believe about leading people well - things they have seen, lived and know to be true - without using a single word from the company values statement. Then ask when each belief last cost them something. What survives that question is what your culture actually runs on.

Your people do not follow a laminated card. They follow the person in front of them.