A practical core values list for defining company values

Some companies treat writing a core values list as a set-it-and-forget-it exercise. Once made, it sits on a careers page or shows up on a slide during onboarding without ever influencing how people actually work.

Strong company values do the opposite. They shape how organizations make decisions, how managers lead, and how teams treat each other when the work gets hard.

In this guide, we’ll help you define company principles people can use. You’ll get real examples of core values, plus practical guidance for turning them into the standard for everyday responsibilities.

What’s a core value?

It’s easy to confuse core values with a mission or vision statement, but they play different roles. A mission explains why a company exists, a vision describes where it’s headed, and values define how people interact with one another along the way.

A company’s core values are tenets that influence feedback, performance conversations, and hiring decisions. In recruiting, they help interviewers spot behaviors that align with how the company operates, allowing new hires to integrate with ease. They also help organizations recruit people whose personal beliefs align with the company’s principles. 

Over time, those shared sentiments shape company culture, keeping teams aligned on shared organizational goals.

How to identify and define your company’s core values

Here’s a simple process for identifying the principles that motivate your company culture.

Reflect on your company’s purpose and long-term vision

Start with the big picture. Why does your company exist, and where is it trying to go? This overarching strategy ties in closely with your mission and vision statements, so when these things don’t align, people quickly feel the disconnect. Your core values should support the overall direction your company is heading, reinforcing the ideas behind your company’s long-term goals.

Gather input from leadership and employees

Instead of trying to nail down your guiding principles during a single boardroom brainstorm, talk to your leaders, managers, and employees across different teams. Ask what behaviors actually drive success at your company and what kind of workplace people feel proud to be part of. When you know what you’re looking for, you’ll find areas to meaningfully promote a healthy culture.

Identify recurring behaviors and success patterns

Look closely at the people and teams who are thriving. What behaviors keep showing up? How do they collaborate, solve problems, or support customers? In more established organizations, these patterns often reveal the company values already shaping the culture. 

But if you’re building something new or going through change, current behaviors may not reflect where the company is heading. In these cases, define your values based on what’s working and what needs improvement. The goal isn’t to invent something new: It’s to name the ideals that best support your company’s success.

Narrow it down to a small, meaningful set of values

A long list of principles is impossible to remember, let alone apply. Strong organizations keep things clear and easy to remember by adopting a smaller set of ethics, aiming to include anywhere between three and seven. This intentionality allows companies to focus on each value, especially when each one feels meaningful and easy for employees to identify in real situations.

Validate that values align with real company practices

Before publishing your company’s core tenets, test them against reality. Do they reflect how management makes decisions? Do leaders model them consistently? Would employees recognize them in everyday work? If the answer is no, it’s time to revisit them.

14 examples of core business values

Looking for inspiration? Check out these examples of values to see how different company philosophies impact behavior, leadership, and decision-making at work.

1. Openness

Encourage transparency and honest conversations. Teams that appreciate openness share ideas freely and address problems early instead of letting them fester.

2. Volunteerism

Support employees who give back to their communities. Companies that encourage volunteer opportunities show that impact goes beyond just meeting business goals.

3. Enthusiasm

Bring energy and curiosity to work. Enthusiasm fuels creativity and collaboration across teams and departments.

4. Respect

Treat everyone with dignity and professionalism. Respect strengthens company culture and helps people feel valued at work.

5. Compassion

Recognize that employees are people first. Compassionate workplaces support well-being and create stronger connections between colleagues.

6. Accountability

Take ownership of every outcome, both good and bad. Taking accountability builds trust and helps teams learn and improve.

7. Integrity

Act with honesty and strong ethical standards. Acting with integrity means aligning decisions with the company’s principles, even when it’s hard.

8. Teamwork

Work toward shared goals. Strong teamwork encourages collaboration, support, and collective success.

9. Customer focus

Put customer needs at the center of decisions. Companies that prioritize customers consistently look for ways to improve the user experience.

10 Communicating with impact

Share ideas clearly and intentionally. Strong communication prevents confusion and solves problems faster.

11. Commitment to growth

Encourage continuous learning and growth. Supporting development allows employees and leadership to reach their full potential.

12. Drive for results

Focus on outcomes that foster growth. This value reinforces ownership and meaningful progress toward company goals.

13. Humility

Put the team and the mission ahead of ego. Humility means sharing credit, staying open to feedback, and acknowledging that great ideas can come from anyone.

14. Passion

Care deeply about the work and the mission behind it. Passion brings purpose to everyday tasks and inspires people to do their best.

What makes company values effective

Not all values actually influence how people work. The ones that have the most positive influence on company culture tend to be:

• Actionable and behavior-driven: Strong core values describe behaviors people can identify and practice every day, not abstract ideas that sound good but mean different things to everyone.
• Relevant to company strategy: Effective company core values support the direction of the business. They should reinforce the same priorities outlined in your mission statement and long-term goals.
• Consistently reinforced by leadership: Leaders set the tone. When managers model values like integrity, accountability, and respect in their decisions, employees are far more likely to follow the example.
• Embedded in hiring and performance processes: Clearly defined values influence the evaluation and hiring process. Keeping principles and behaviors top of mind during hiring helps teams stay aligned as the company grows.
• Measured through feedback and engagement signals: Regular feedback and engagement data let organizations see whether their guiding principles are truly shaping company culture.

How to turn core values into everyday behaviors

Defining company core values is just the first step. The real work is making sure they show up in how people hire, make decisions, and recognize great work. Here’s how.

Align hiring and onboarding

In hiring, decide whether a candidate’s behaviors align with your company values. During onboarding, introduce new hires to the company’s guiding principles and show how they influence decisions, collaboration, and leadership expectations.

Integrate into performance evaluations

Don’t just focus your performance reviews on results. Make sure they reflect how individuals achieved those results. When you embed core values into evaluation criteria, employees understand that behaviors like collaboration and accountability matter just as much as outcomes.

Reinforce through recognition programs

Recognition programs allow managers to spotlight anyone modeling company values. Use these programs to highlight employees who demonstrate your guiding principles in action, whether through taking accountability or stepping up to support colleagues.

Train managers to model and coach principles

Managers are the daily drivers of company culture. If leaders don’t model the organization’s core values, employees won’t either. To reinforce this, train your managers to coach around these principles so their teams understand how standards translate into real decisions and behaviors.

Measure cultural alignment often

Organizations should regularly check whether employees feel their company values show up in everyday work. Engagement surveys, feedback tools, and team discussions help leaders understand whether philosophies align with how the company operates.

Encourage peer recognition

When employees recognize key values in one another, it reinforces a sense of belonging and camaraderie. Encouraging peer recognition reinforces the behaviors that support your company principles and helps build a stronger, more connected company culture.

Bring your core values to life with Workleap

Workleap helps organizations turn company ideals into measurable behaviors using employee feedback, recognition, and structured performance reviews.

With Workleap Officevibe, leaders use pulse surveys and anonymous feedback to understand if employees feel the company values reflected in the workplace. Officevibe’s recognition tool, Good Vibes cards, makes it easy for teammates to highlight behaviors that reinforce your company standards.

You can also embed values directly into everyday conversations with Workleap Performance. Managers can align goals, feedback, and evaluations with the same principles that define the company’s culture, creating clearer expectations and stronger accountability across teams.

Ready to embrace the systems that will help you move beyond a static list of statements? Request a demo today.