Investing in Workplace Culture: The Power of Personal Values

Nov 25

3 min read

A recent Gallup report found that only 27% of employees ‘strongly agree’ they believe in their organization’s values.

27 PERCENT!!

This statistic reveals a troubling and massive gap that we need to talk about in relation to the fourth personal investment of the Cultural Microsphere.

While companies often state their values, the alignment between those values and employee behaviors is far from universal. For the remaining 76% in this particular study, this disconnect can create friction, leading to disengagement, mistrust, and even conflicts over company and personal results.

As we’ve explored in this series, the Cultural Microsphere — the environment where individual employee actions shape the larger culture — depends on the investments employees make in their roles. Personal values are perhaps the most critical and complex of these investments. They influence everything we do at work, shaping how we interact, solve problems, and contribute to the organization’s mission.

But here’s the thing: personal values can either align with or clash against organizational values. And when misalignment occurs, the results can be damaging for both the individual and the company.

Let me share a personal example.

Twice in my early days as a working human, I worked for fast-food companies—once at Hardee's and once at Wendy's. Both organizations had clearly defined values. Wendy's, for instance, prided itself on its “never cutting corners” philosophy, a commitment to quality that was literally reflected in their square hamburgers. These values weren’t in conflict with my own, but the reality of the job was.

At the time, my personal values around health were being tested. I was always overweight as a child and early adulthood was proving to be the same. My access to free or discounted food meant that I regularly indulged in poor eating habits, leading to weight gain and a growing sense of personal dissatisfaction. While the organizational values themselves weren’t the issue, the environment they created conflicted with my personal priorities. In hindsight, I should have recognized this misalignment and made a change earlier.

The lesson? Never join an organization whose values fundamentally clash with your own.

Misalignment can make you question your efforts, disengage, and even feel offended when the organization takes certain actions. Whether it’s a fast-food chain for the health-conscious, a fossil fuels company for those who seek climate change, or really any other business, your personal values will shape how you experience and contribute to that company’s culture.

For those who do choose to stay, alignment with organizational values isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s essential for engagement, psychological safety, and results.

Employees must decide whether to:

Fully Commit: Embrace the organizational values and demonstrate the associated behaviors, even if they require some personal adjustment.
Assess Fit: Evaluate whether the organization is truly the right environment for their personal and professional growth.

This is where the Cultural Microsphere becomes invaluable. It provides a framework for identifying and addressing gaps between stated values and lived experiences. Through tools like engagement surveys, feedback loops, and performance reviews, organizations can measure how well employees embody core values and where disconnects may lie.

What sets high-performing cultures apart from those who struggle is their ability to measure values-driven behaviors.

As we have been discussing all along, it’s not enough to list values on a website or in onboarding materials. Leaders must translate these values into observable, measurable actions. By aligning personal values with measurable organizational behaviors, employees can see how their actions contribute to the larger culture. And when misalignments occur, leaders can address them proactively, ensuring the culture remains strong and cohesive.

As we close this series on the four investments employees make to progress workplace culture, it’s clear how interconnected they are...

Time allows employees to build relationships and understand the nuances of their roles. Effort brings energy, focus, and resilience to daily tasks, while Commitment to Change helps individuals embrace challenges and adapt to evolving priorities. Finally, Personal Values ensure alignment with organizational expectations—or guide employees in making the hard decision to part ways.

Together, these investments transform culture from something aspirational into something actionable and measurable, bridging the gap between the culture we strive for and the one we live every day.

Ultimately, personal values are what bring humanity to the workplace. They inspire us, drive our actions, and connect us to the broader mission. But they also demand intentionality from both employees and organizations. When employees ask themselves "Am I investing my own values in how I conduct myself at work every day?" and employers ask of their employees to do so, values can align and the Cultural Microsphere becomes a powerful tool for transformation, fostering a workplace where everyone can succeed!

Thanks for reading.

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Image adapted from a photo by Photo by Walls.io.

Gallup engagement: https://www.gallup.com/topic/employee-engagement.aspx

Posted: 25 November 2024