How to navigate the minefield of company values

Earlier this week, I ran a workshop for on personal branding for an organisation celebrating its Values Week. During the session, someone asked a brilliant and very honest question: “What if the company’s values aren’t the same as my own?”

As workplaces become more diverse, with multiple generations, cultures, and worldviews working side by side, differences in how people interpret and prioritise values are almost inevitable. I’m sure it’s a question more people are asking and one that leaders need to think about carefully if they want values to feel genuinely shared.

Personal values vs corporate values

Corporate values describe what an organisation stands for collectively for example respect, integrity, or client focus.

Personal values guide how we, as individuals, approach our lives and careers. I’m not talking here about deep moral or ethical conflicts that fundamentally opposes your own beliefs. What I mean are the more everyday principles influence how people feel about where they work and how they contribute.

For some, an organisation’s values may feel authentic and aspirational. For others, they can feel imposed or at odds with what motivates them personally. That doesn’t make either set of values wrong, they’re just different.

The role of internal communicators

For internal communicators, this space between personal and organisational values is where we can make a real difference bridging the gap and helping people see how their own values connect with the organisations, as well as supporting leaders to recognise that values are interpreted through people’s individual lenses

Here are five practical ways internal communicators can support that alignment.

Create space for honest conversations.

Invite employees to share what the values mean to them in practice. For instance, how do employees relate to a value like respect? Do they see it lived out in how colleagues and leaders interact day to day, or does it feel like a word that appears in posters more than in practice? Asking these kinds of questions opens up useful conversations about what the value really means and what needs to change for people to genuinely experience it.

  1. Support leaders to listen and reflect. Coach leaders to ask questions rather than make statements about values. For example, instead of announcing 'one of our values is integrity', a leader might ask 'what does integrity look like in our team when we’re under pressure to deliver'. When leaders genuinely listen and acknowledge different perspectives, it signals that values aren’t just top-down declarations.
  2. Translate values into lived examples. Use storytelling to show how values play out in real situations. Highlighting examples of teams making decisions that reflect shared principles helps employees connect their own beliefs to the organisation’s purpose. For example, a project team might delay a product launch after spotting a safety concern, even though it meant missing a target. Or a manager might choose to share credit for a success with the wider team, showing what collaboration looks like in action. Stories like these make values tangible and believable because people can see them happening around them.
  3. Encourage collaboration around values. Set up cross-functional groups or workshops to explore how each value shows up in different roles. This helps people see how their individual contributions align with collective goals, turning abstract words into practical guidance.
  4. Keep language human and inclusive. Use everyday language and acknowledge that people interpret values differently. When communicators show there’s room for individuality within shared principles, people are more likely to see themselves reflected in the organisation’s values.

When communicators help people see where they fit and make space for honest dialogue values stop being slogans and start becoming shared understanding.

Written by

Ann-Marie Blake, co-founder of True

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