Further Resources

Why Your Company's Values Are Just Words on a Wall

The receptionist at my accountant's office has a motivational poster behind her desk that reads "Excellence is not a skill, it's an attitude." Right beneath it, she's got a handwritten sign saying "Back in 5 minutes" that's been there for three years. That pretty much sums up corporate values in Australia today.

I've been consulting with businesses across Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane for the past eighteen years, and I can tell you this with absolute certainty: 87% of company values statements are complete fiction. They're corporate fairy tales written by committees who've never actually worked on the shop floor.

The Great Values Charade

Here's what really gets my goat. Companies spend thousands on branding consultants to craft these beautiful, inspiring values statements. "Innovation." "Integrity." "Collaboration." "Customer Focus." Then they laminate them, stick them in reception areas, and expect magic to happen.

But walk through their offices. Talk to their staff. Watch how decisions actually get made.

The company that preaches "Work-Life Balance" as a core value but expects you to answer emails at 11 PM on Saturday. The business that champions "Transparency" while keeping salary bands secret and promoting the CEO's nephew. The organisation that claims "People First" but hasn't given anyone a proper pay rise in three years.

It's corporate theatre at its finest.

Why This Matters More Than You Think

Now, before you roll your eyes and think this is just another consultant having a whinge, let me tell you why this actually matters for your bottom line.

When I worked at time management training sessions in the early 2000s, I noticed something interesting. The companies where staff could recite the values word-for-word were often the most dysfunctional. Meanwhile, the businesses where nobody could remember the exact wording but everyone understood the underlying principles? They were crushing it.

Values that aren't lived become cynicism. And cynical employees don't innovate, don't go the extra mile, and definitely don't recommend your business to their mates.

Think about Qantas for a moment. Their stated values include "Safety," "Service," and "Pride." Say what you want about their baggage handling, but you'll never catch a Qantas pilot cutting corners on safety protocols. That's because their safety culture isn't just words—it's backed by decades of non-negotiable practices, training, and consequences.

Compare that to some tech startup I worked with last year. Their values wall included "Authenticity" and "Respect." But the founder would regularly humiliate employees in all-hands meetings and take credit for other people's ideas. The values weren't just meaningless—they were actively insulting to anyone paying attention.

The Real Problem: Values Without Consequences

Here's the thing most leadership teams get wrong. They think values are aspirational. Something to aim for. A north star to guide decision-making.

Bollocks.

Values are only real when they're expensive. When living by them costs you something—time, money, opportunities, comfort.

Let me give you a concrete example. One of my clients, a mid-sized construction firm in Perth, has "Quality First" as their primary value. Sounds generic, right? But here's the difference: they've walked away from three major contracts in the past two years because the client wanted them to use substandard materials.

That's expensive integrity. That's when values mean something.

Most companies aren't prepared for that level of commitment. They want values that sound good in the boardroom but don't require any actual sacrifice in the real world.

The Australian Context Makes It Worse

We've got a particular problem with this in Australia because of our cultural relationship with authority. We're naturally suspicious of corporate BS, but we're also pretty polite about calling it out directly.

So what happens? Employees develop what I call "values deafness." They learn to tune out the corporate messaging entirely. The more a company bangs on about their values, the more eye-rolling happens behind closed doors.

I was running effective communication training for a financial services company in Sydney a few months back. During a break, one of the participants pointed to their "Trust" poster and said, "Yeah, we trust management about as far as we can throw them." Everyone laughed. Including the HR manager.

That's not healthy cynicism—that's a values credibility gap that's costing real money.

What Actually Works Instead

Alright, enough complaining. Here's what I've seen work in the real world.

First, throw out your values committee. The best organisational values I've encountered weren't crafted—they were discovered. They emerged from observing what the company actually does when nobody's watching.

Take Bunnings. Their unofficial value could be summarised as "helpful expertise without the hard sell." You won't find that exact phrase on their website, but every staff member understands it. They'll spend twenty minutes helping you choose the right screws for your deck, even if you're only spending eight dollars.

That's not because some consultant told them to be helpful. It's because their hiring, training, and management systems all reinforce that behaviour. The values are baked into how they operate, not painted on the walls.

The Three-Question Values Test

If you're serious about moving beyond values wallpaper, here's my three-question test:

What would we never do, even if it made us money?
What would we always do, even if it cost us money?
How would our worst enemy describe our actual behaviour?

That third question is the killer. Because your competitors see your real values more clearly than you do. They watch how you treat suppliers, how you handle complaints, how you behave when you think nobody's looking.

The companies that pass this test don't need motivational posters. Their values are visible in their policies, their processes, and their people.

Getting Real About Implementation

Look, I know this sounds idealistic. "Just live your values!" Easy for some overpaid consultant to say, right?

But here's the thing—it's actually more practical than the alternative. When your stated values align with your actual behaviour, everything gets easier. Hiring decisions become clearer. Customer complaints get resolved faster. Strategic planning gets more focused.

You stop wasting energy on cognitive dissonance and start building genuine competitive advantages.

The construction company I mentioned earlier? They've got a twelve-month waiting list for their services. Their "expensive integrity" has become their most valuable business asset.

Meanwhile, companies still playing the values charade are burning through staff, confusing customers, and wondering why their culture initiatives keep failing.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Here's what most executives don't want to hear: your real values are already visible to everyone except you.

Your staff know them. Your customers experience them. Your suppliers deal with them every day.

The only people still fooled by the motivational posters are the ones who put them up in the first place.

So maybe it's time to stop crafting values and start acknowledging them. Take a hard look at how your organisation actually behaves. Then decide whether you're proud of those behaviours or ready to change them.

Because authentic values aren't something you write on a wall.

They're something you live with the lights on.

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