Business values

Company values are the core values or standards that guide the way you do business. They sum up what your business stands for, influences the organisational culture and drives how and why you do things. While business plans and strategies may change, the core values of your business will usually remain the same. Company values help businesses grow and evolve without losing focus on what is important to them.

Company values: types

There are many different company values a business can take on, usually in various combinations, to help guide them in the way in which they do things. Types of company values include:

• accountability
• collaboration
• customer focus
• diversity
• innovation
• integrity
• leadership
• one team
• partnerships
• passion
• professional
• quality
• respect
• staff development

Example of company values

There is no template for identifying core values for your business. Some businesses may identify only one or two company values that they feel are important to them eg a manufacturing business may highlight their company values as:

• customer focus: we strive to exceed customer expectations when delivering our products and;
• innovation: we continually search for new and better ways of doing things on an operational level and to produce new products

Other businesses may find that multiple company values are needed to help drive what their business does and how it does it. Every business is different and will have its own set of core company values - whether or not these are articulated.