The data was shocking. Even hurtful.

An employee who worked for another department was sometimes loaned to my team. A monthly payroll report showed a lot more hours were charged to my team than she had actually worked.

This was a great employee. Someone who did good work and was well-liked. She was recently recognized as the employee of the month.

I wanted to believe this was a simple error, so I shared the report with the employee's boss. She was surprised, too. The numbers didn't add up. We did a little digging and found that the employee was falsifying her timecard. In one month, she added 40 hours of time that she didn't actually work.

We brought our concerns to our bosses, and then to human resources. The decision was out of our hands, but our human resources rep explained the company's policies made it clear this employee would be fired.

Except, she wasn't.

Our director intervened and the employee kept her job. The director's explanation has always stuck with me. "How would it look if we fired the employee of the month?"

That moment told me what was really valued.

Despite strong talk about integrity and excellent service quality, the real value for our director was image. Firing this employee would make the director look bad, so the employee wasn't fired.

I learned a valuable lesson that day. When leaders face difficult challenges, actions matter more than words.

What are company values?

An organization’s values describe how its employees do business. They serve as guidelines for the types of behaviors that should be promoted and encouraged.

Values can be very important in a customer-focused organization. They help define the service culture and guide employees when they’re faced with a tough decision.

There's one really big caveat: proclaiming a certain value does not make it true.

For example, Enron was an energy company that made headlines in 2001 for massive accounting fraud. That same year, it published an annual report highlighting Integrity as one of the company's core values.

Values are illuminated by how people actually behave along with the behaviors that are actually promoted and encouraged. You can get an overview of mission, vision, and values from this guide.

Looking at three situations will help you assess your organization’s true values. Each one reveals which behaviors are really welcome, and which ones are not.

Values Test #1: Daily Behavior

The first situation is observing how employees interact on a daily basis. Notice what behaviors are supported and which ones are not. Here are a few examples of specific situations:

• How do employees approach their work?

• How do employees on the same team interact?

• How do different departments work together?

Here are examples of two companies that both stated "accountability" was a value.

Employees in the first company went out of their way to be nice even when coworkers did poor quality work, habitually showed up late to meetings, or failed to meet deadlines. They excused poor performance, rather than address it directly. Honest and direct conversations were avoided for fear of upsetting someone. In this case, being nice was a stronger value than accountability.

Employees in the second company expected a lot from themselves and their colleagues. They worked hard to maintain commitments. Employees challenged each other to do better and were quick to offer support when someone struggled. While still being quite nice, employees were also very candid with each other when discussing workplace issues. In this case, accountability was a true value because that's how people actually behaved.

Values Test #2: Leadership

A second values test is observing how leaders make decisions. Do the corporate values clearly guide their thinking, or do they make decisions that seem contrary to the corporate values?

Here are examples of two companies that both stated "excellence" was a value.

The owner of one company demanded excellence from his employees, yet his own decisions often demonstrated a willingness to cut corners. He purchased poor quality inventory, used the cheapest vendors, and paid low wages. The owner refused to spend money to upgrade outdated systems, even though those upgrades would immediately improve efficiency and quality and save the company money in the long run. His leadership revealed that thriftiness was the real value, not excellence.

The owner of another company also demanded excellence from his employees, and his own decisions backed that up. His company thrived in a price-sensitive industry by running more efficiently than than competition. The company paid better wages and offered more generous benefits than competitors because the owner knew that retaining talented employees was essential to running an excellent operation. Processes and procedures were rigorously documented and reviewed to ensure quality remained high. In this case, excellence was always at the forefront of the owner's decision-making.

Values Test #3:

The third values test is to observe what leaders do when when a situation gives a leader a strong incentive to act against the company values.

Here are examples of two companies that both held quality as a value.

The CEO of one company claimed quality was a core value, but he pushed his team to find ways expand market share, cut costs, and operate faster. New products and promotions were frequently introduced, often without adequate testing. Quality issues often plagued the company, even as it continued to grow, and it soon became known for having the worst quality in the industry.

The CEO of another company also claimed quality as a core value, yet he truly embraced it. He expanded slowly, making sure to maintain the same high standards as the company grew. Operations were run efficiently, yet deliberately to ensure a consistent product. The product line was kept simple so the company could stick to its core competencies and new promotions were rarely implemented. The company became known for having the best quality in its industry.

Conclusion

A list of corporate values on a website or a poster can serve as a good reminder, but those are not always a company's true values. The real test is watching what people actually do.