Advice

Why Your Company's Values Are Just Wall Decorations

I was sitting in yet another all-hands meeting last month when the CEO started banging on about our "core values" again. Integrity. Innovation. Excellence. Customer-first. The usual suspects plastered across every conference room wall in shiny vinyl lettering.

And I'm thinking - mate, you literally told accounting to delay paying our suppliers by 30 days to improve cash flow last quarter. Where's the integrity in that?

Here's the uncomfortable truth about company values that nobody wants to admit: 87% of organisations treat them like expensive wallpaper. Pretty to look at, occasionally mentioned in presentations, but utterly disconnected from how business actually gets done.

The Values Charade We're All Playing

After seventeen years consulting with businesses across Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney, I've seen this pattern everywhere. From tiny startups to ASX-listed giants, they all do the same thing. Spend months crafting these beautiful value statements with focus groups and executive retreats, then promptly ignore them the moment quarterly numbers look shaky.

Take "customer-first" - probably the most abused value in corporate Australia. I worked with a retail chain (won't name names, but they're in every shopping centre) whose customer-first value was printed on business cards, websites, even bathroom walls. Yet their staff were literally trained to upsell unnecessary warranties during every transaction. Their customer service scripts were designed to frustrate people into giving up complaints.

Customer-first? More like profit-first with a customer-themed marketing campaign.

Why Values Fail (Hint: It's Not What You Think)

Most leadership consultants will tell you values fail because of poor communication or lack of buy-in. That's rubbish. Values fail because they're written by committees trying to sound impressive rather than being honest about who they actually are.

Real values aren't aspirational. They're descriptive.

Google's early "Don't be evil" worked because it reflected their genuine culture at the time. It wasn't perfect, but it was authentic. Compare that to generic corporate speak like "We value excellence in everything we do." What does that even mean? Excellent coffee in the break room? Excellent passive-aggressive email chains?

The best values I've seen are uncomfortably specific. Leadership development programs that actually work focus on real behaviour change, not motivational posters.

The Westfield Test

Want to know if your company values are real? I call it the Westfield Test.

Walk through any Westfield centre on a Saturday afternoon. Watch how different retailers actually behave when they're busy, stressed, and dealing with difficult customers. The ones whose values show up in those moments? Those are companies with real culture, not just wall decorations.

JB Hi-Fi passes this test beautifully. Their staff genuinely seem to enjoy helping customers find the right product, even when it's hectic. You can see their "passion for technology" value in action. Meanwhile, some other electronics retailers (who shall remain nameless) have staff that look like they'd rather be anywhere else.

The Three-Month Reality Check

Here's something I learned the hard way early in my career. I once implemented a beautiful values program for a construction company. Months of workshops, laminated cards, even branded hard hats with values printed on them. I was so proud of that project.

Three months later, I visited the site. The superintendent was screaming at subcontractors, safety protocols were being ignored to meet deadlines, and those branded hard hats were being used as ashtrays. The values weren't fake - the implementation was just completely disconnected from daily reality.

That's when I realised most companies approach values backwards. They start with what sounds good rather than what's actually happening. It's like trying to renovate a house by just changing the paint colour while ignoring the cracked foundation.

What Actually Works (Spoiler: It's Messier)

The companies that get values right do three things differently:

They admit their contradictions. No company is consistent across all values all the time. The honest ones acknowledge this. "We value both innovation and reliability, and sometimes these conflict." That's real leadership.

They make values measurable. Vague concepts become specific behaviours. Instead of "respect," they might say "we disagree constructively in meetings rather than talking behind backs afterward." Much harder to fake.

They fire people for values violations. Not just performance issues - actual values breaches. I've seen companies let brilliant performers go because they were toxic to culture. That sends a message faster than any poster campaign.

Quality communication training often reveals these cultural disconnects. When managers learn to have difficult conversations properly, they usually discover their stated values aren't matching their actual behaviours.

The Values That Actually Matter

Forget the corporate speak for a minute. The values that actually drive behaviour in Australian workplaces are usually unspoken:

Making budget trumps everything else
Looking busy is more important than being productive
Avoiding blame matters more than solving problems
Senior management's mood determines daily priorities

These aren't necessarily bad values - they're just honest ones. A company that admitted "we prioritise short-term financial performance" would at least be authentic. Employees could make informed decisions about whether that environment suits them.

Beyond the Buzzwords

The most successful culture change I ever witnessed wasn't driven by values at all. It was a trucking company in Western Sydney that simply started measuring what they actually cared about: driver safety, customer delivery times, and equipment maintenance.

No fancy posters. No retreat weekends. Just clear expectations and consistent measurement. Within eighteen months, they had the lowest accident rate in their industry and the highest customer satisfaction scores they'd ever achieved.

The owner told me something I still remember: "Values are what you do when nobody's watching. Everything else is just marketing."

That's probably the most honest thing any CEO has ever said to me.

Making Values Real (If You Really Must)

If you're determined to make company values work, here's what actually helps:

Start with brutal honesty about your current culture. What do people really get promoted for? What behaviours get overlooked? What stories do employees tell about management decisions?

Then ask yourself: are you willing to change systems, processes, and potentially people to align with these values? If not, save everyone the time and just focus on business metrics.

Most companies aren't ready for real values work. It's expensive, disruptive, and often reveals uncomfortable truths about leadership. That's fine - just don't pretend otherwise.

The Bottom Line

Your company values aren't wall decorations by accident. They're wall decorations because that's exactly how seriously your organisation takes them. And maybe that's perfectly appropriate for your business model.

Not every company needs deep cultural purpose to be successful. Some businesses just need to deliver products on time, treat people fairly, and make reasonable profits. That's a perfectly valid approach.

But if you're going to talk about values, at least have the courage to make them mean something. Otherwise, save the money and buy better coffee for the break room instead.

At least everyone knows where they stand with good coffee.

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