How should a purpose-led business approach the question of values or belief statements?

Blueprint’s Framework defines the foundational mindset about purpose and people which is needed, and the behaviours which result. These behaviours become habitual when this mindset or way of thinking has taken root and it is lived and shared broadly within the business. 

For any business seeking to make Blueprint’s thinking and approach its own, it will want to create a coherent narrative that explains what it does and how it does it, and how both of these flow from the purpose and its view of people.  

It is to be expected, therefore, that a purpose led business will not only develop a clear purpose statement but also evolve a set of stated beliefs or values with brief behaviour descriptors which point to the behaviour needed to enable the business to flourish and succeed in a way that nurtures relationships founded on respect for the dignity of others. 

Many businesses prefer to refer to values, but some (e.g. Baillie Gifford set out Our shared Beliefs). Whichever term is used, it is helpful to be clear that any statement of values encapsulates beliefs on which the success of the business is predicated, and also beliefs about the behaviour of people and the standards expected – what is believed to enable human connection and motivation. 

Clarity about the linkage is vital so everyone is clear about why the core beliefs or values are as stated, and how they support the pursuit of the purpose. This should help motivate people to speak up and intervene to keep each other and the business true to the beliefs in the knowledge that this will help the business achieve, and stay true to, the purpose. 

Being clear and consistent about the shared beliefs or values of the business both at recruitment and in practice is also helpful, as is finding ways to encourage and respect an individual’s right to craft their work in a way that respects their beliefs and create meaning, provided their behaviours and outcomes do not undermine the shared beliefs and common good being created by the business. 

Bringing together a statement of purpose and the accompanying values or beliefs can help make clear how the business believes it creates value for society and what is believed to contribute most towards creating that value – which includes the quality of relationships. This helps guide individual and collective efforts towards achieving the purpose.  

Some things to avoid 

Just as with the use of purpose statements, there are evident risks in the development of “values statements” or statements of beliefs.  These include: 

• A lack of an evident and compelling connection between the purpose and espoused values: why these values, and how do they support becoming purpose led?  
• Vague general statements (e.g. integrity) which could apply to any business or context and often lack clear behavioural descriptors 
• A lack of clarity about the values – are they core (summary descriptions of what in fact already characterises the identity and essential culture) or aspirational (what someone would like the behaviour to be)? Many organisations confuse aspirational values with core values. Values do not become core values by placing them in a corporate values statement. This is discussed further in this article which draws on the work on Patrick Lencioni Make Your Values Mean Something  
• Cognitive dissonance and cynicism when the stated values manifestly contradict observed behaviour particularly by leaders 
• A top-down imposition of values without dialogue and reflection within the business as a whole  
• Undertaking an exercise to create a new set of values as a displacement activity when the real problem is the current values are simply not being lived 
• Values being seen as a set of moral standards that are judged in parallel to operational success; so operational success can be achieved without the values and the values describe an aspirational (nice to have) way of behaving.