How Do You Define Core Values in EOS®?
Core Values in EOS are the three to seven timeless, guiding principles that define who your company is and how it operates. They are not aspirational. They are not a poster on the wall. They are the behaviors you hire by, fire by, review by, reward by, and recognize by. Core Values already exist in your company. The work is discovering them, not inventing them.
When Core Values are real and enforced, they become the most powerful management tool in the company. When they are fake, they make every other management effort harder.
Why Core Values matter
Most companies have a list of Core Values. Most of those lists are meaningless. The values sound good, but no one is hired, fired, or promoted based on them. Employees roll their eyes when the values are mentioned.
Real Core Values are different. They answer one question:
Who do we love working with, and who do we not?
When the leadership team answers that honestly, the Core Values reveal themselves. The people who make the company better. The people who make it worse. The pattern of what the thriving employees have in common is your Core Values.
How to discover your Core Values
Step 1: Gather the leadership team
Block three to four hours. Get the full leadership team in a room.
Step 2: Identify your best people
Write the names of your three best employees on a whiteboard. The ones you wish you could clone. The ones whose departure would hurt the most.
Step 3: List the traits that make them great
For each of those people, list every trait that makes them great. Character. Work ethic. Attitude. How they treat others. How they handle pressure. How they approach the job.
You will have a long list. That is good.
Step 4: Find the patterns
Cluster the traits. Look for the themes that keep showing up. These are the seeds of your Core Values.
Step 5: Narrow to three to seven
The sweet spot is three to seven Core Values. More is too many. Nobody can remember ten. Fewer than three is probably missing something important.
Step 6: Write them in your company’s voice
The words matter. Your Core Values should sound like your company, not like a corporate HR manual.
Examples of well-written Core Values:
- Be Humbly Confident
- Grow or Die
- Help First
- Do the Right Thing
- Do What You Say
Not: “Excellence, Integrity, Teamwork, Innovation, Respect.” That list is generic. It could belong to any company.
Step 7: Test them
For each candidate Core Value, ask:
- Is this timeless? Will it still be a value in ten years?
- Is it unique to us? Or does every company claim it?
- Do we hire for it? Fire for it? Reward it?
- Can we give concrete examples of someone living it?
If the answer to any of those is no, the value is not real.
The Core Values Speech
Once you have Core Values, the first use is the Core Values Speech. Before delivering it, wait 30 days. Let the values simmer with the leadership team. Then meet one last time to sign off once and for all on the final list.
The speech is delivered by the Visionary or Integrator (most often the Visionary) to the entire company. It runs 15 to 30 minutes.
The speech has three parts:
- Name each Core Value. Word each value with the same pattern or tense (“To always…” or “We always…”).
- Bullet three to five supporting examples under each value. These are the specific behaviors, stories, and illustrations that bring the value to life. A value without examples is just a word.
- Commit to the process. “From this point forward, we will hire, fire, review, reward, and recognize by these values.”
After the speech, the Core Values become operational. Every hiring decision. Every performance review. Every firing. Every promotion. Core Values drive them all.
How to use Core Values every day
Hiring
Every candidate must be evaluated against Core Values in the interview. Ask behavioral questions for each value. Core Values come first. Skills come second. A candidate who fails Core Values is a no, even if they are technically brilliant.
Firing
A team member who does not live the Core Values must change or leave. No exceptions. High performers who fail Core Values do more damage than low performers who live them.
Reviewing
Every quarterly or annual review evaluates the person against Core Values first. Use the People Analyzer™.
Rewarding and Recognizing
When you catch someone living a Core Value in a powerful way, call it out. Publicly. By name. Every company meeting should include Core Value stories.
The Quarterly State of the Company meeting
Every quarter, the Visionary delivers the State of the Company meeting to the whole company. Core Values are reinforced every time. The same stories get told. The same values get named. This is not repetition. This is consistency, which is the secret to culture.
Common Core Values mistakes
- Inventing values you wish you had. Core Values are discovered, not invented. If they are not already true in your best people, they are not your Core Values.
- Too many values. Ten Core Values is zero Core Values. Nobody can remember them, use them, or enforce them.
- Generic language. “Integrity” is not a Core Value. Every company claims it. Be specific to your company.
- Not enforcing them. The first time you let someone slide on Core Values, the whole system loses credibility.
- Tolerating a high-performer who fails Core Values. This is the fastest way to destroy culture.
- Failing to tell stories. Core Values without stories are words. Stories make them real.
The five uses of Core Values in EOS
Core Values drive five organizational practices:
- Hire by them
- Fire by them
- Review by them
- Reward by them
- Recognize by them
Every people decision in EOS runs through Core Values first.
How Core Values connect to the rest of EOS
- V/TO™. Question 1 on the V/TO is: what are your Core Values?
- People Analyzer. Core Values are one half of the Right Person / Right Seat test.
- Accountability Chart™. The Right Person test on the Accountability Chart is a Core Values test.
- Core Values Speech. Delivered at every quarterly State of the Company.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Core Values in EOS?
Core Values are the three to seven timeless, guiding principles that define who your company is. They are the behaviors you hire, fire, review, reward, and recognize by.
How many Core Values should a company have?
Three to seven. Closer to five is typical. Ten is too many.
How do I discover my company’s Core Values?
Identify your three best employees. List the traits that make them great. Find the patterns. Those patterns are your Core Values. Core Values are discovered, not invented.
What is the Core Values Speech?
A 15-to-30 minute talk delivered by the Visionary or Integrator to the entire company. It names each Core Value, provides three to five supporting examples under each, and commits the company to hiring, firing, reviewing, rewarding, and recognizing by them.
What happens if an employee does not live our Core Values?
Use the People Analyzer. If they score below The Bar on Core Values, coach them for 30 to 90 days. If they do not change, help them leave.
Can Core Values change over time?
Rarely. Core Values are timeless. They should be as true in ten years as they are today. The 10-Year Target™ changes. Core Focus™ evolves slowly. Core Values stay.
Related EOS Tools
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Written by EOS Worldwide
Reviewed by Mark O'Donnell, Visionary & CEO, EOS Worldwide
EOS Worldwide is the organization behind the Entrepreneurial Operating System®. Content reflects official EOS® doctrine.