Rally your team through your values
An organization that can name what it stands for engages people more powerfully than one that bets on productivity alone. Here are six points to reflect on to make your values a true engine of engagement.
The essentials
- Organizations driven by strong values engage people more than those focused on productivity alone.
- Naming your values takes deliberate reflection: a few lived values beat a long list on the wall.
- Most conflicts stem from a clash of values, not a lack of goodwill.
- A value only engages people when the everyday actions confirm it: consistency and transparency make all the difference.
- Without data, alignment is just a feeling: you measure to know where to act.
The starting point
As the holidays approach, a great many companies take stock of how engaged their teams really are. What explains a rising turnover rate when your competitor keeps its employees loyal? How do you spark a sense of belonging that gives work meaning? Here are six points to reflect on.
Companies like Facebook, Google and Apple have a strong organizational culture with a high level of engagement among the people they call collaborators. "A company that stands out for a strong culture will rally its people and outperform everyone else in the market," explains François Garon, a professional speaker.
Garon is echoing Peter Drucker, the man known as the "father of management," a professor and author renowned in the United States. "A company that defines its mission and values will surpass a competitor that relies only on its productivity and marketing metrics," Garon adds.
"A company that defines its mission and values will surpass a competitor that relies only on its productivity and marketing metrics." Peter Drucker, the "father of management"
Take the time
Take the time to name your values
In the daily whirlwind, it's important to sit down and list your values. "You can't run at 100 miles an hour on productivity and efficiency alone. Take your customer service. We owe it to people to offer the very best service," illustrates François Garon. This value will help you keep customers who finally receive personalized, attentive service.
But these values have to exist somewhere other than a poster. Many organizations list five or six without ever really choosing them. That's where the work begins: taking the time to name what matters, then checking, day after day, that actions confirm it.
Put an end to conflict
Put an end to conflict
Your employees clash in conflicts that drag on. Harmony is nowhere to be found. "A large majority of disputes come from friction at the level of values. That doesn't mean one side or the other is right. Sometimes we're simply coming from a different perspective," says Garon.
Clearly naming what the organization stands for doesn't make these disagreements disappear, but it gives them common ground on which to be resolved: two people who, without saying so, don't put the same thing first end up understanding each other once they share the same reference point.
Stated values
- A list of words on a wall that no one can recite from memory.
- Decisions that contradict the values on paper.
- Conflicts seen as people problems.
- Leadership that says one thing and does another.
Lived values
- A few values named and recognized by every team.
- Concrete choices that confirm what you stand for.
- Disagreements brought back to a shared reference point.
- Consistent leadership that owns its decisions.
Five values
Five values to align your team
Define five values off the top of your head. "Loyalty, honesty, respect, candor, family," writes the author of these lines. "Values dictate our decisions, and those decisions lead us to where we are today," Garon illustrates.
Try to pin down why your employees are losing motivation, doing the bare minimum while waiting for a better opportunity. "By putting your values front and center, you create alignment with employees, suppliers and collaborators at work, and it acts as an engine that propels us forward," adds the speaker.
values named from memory are enough to set a course. "Loyalty, honesty, respect, candor, family": that's the exercise François Garon suggests to align an entire team.
Source: François Garon, professional speakerActions
Actions that match the words
Values do have a limit, though: actions must match the words. Your employee may well be honest, loyal and likeable. But does she deliver the goods, and is she reliable? "Leadership has to show through both words and actions," says François Garon, citing the example of an industry he knows well.
Every day, the head of this factory sets aside a 15-minute break for his collaborators, who put away their tools during that time. This daily pause has become sacred. People play games, and some even bring out the boxing gloves.
The example to follow
A 15-minute break, every day, that has become sacred. "This break lowers stress, builds team spirit and gives work meaning," comments the speaker, well known in Quebec business circles.
Candor
Candor, the condition for trust
In business, in love and at work, candor is essential. "If a boss isn't candid with employees, they'll feel unstable and won't find happiness with that employer," Garon believes.
A lack of candor breeds a lack of clarity, ambiguity, and that has a tangible impact on the organization. "When things aren't clear, it inevitably creates frustration. People then hold back, resist and grow resentful." A team, or even a couple, will go nowhere under such conditions.
Investment or wasted effort?
Take the time to define, or even revisit, your mission and values. "When you put company culture front and center, you'll see more people apply, because they can identify with the values," concludes François Garon.
When a person's values meet those of their organization, work stops being a burden. That's where alignment is born, and alignment is the fuel of engagement.
From values to data
Making alignment measurable
Values set the direction. But how do you know whether your teams truly live them, or whether the gap is widening without anyone noticing? That's exactly the question Amélio answers. Our role is to turn the organizational intelligence that lies dormant in your teams into a clear picture: where alignment is solid, where it's fraying, and which lever to pull first.
Our questions rest on a proven scientific model, the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R), which distinguishes what weighs on an employee from what supports them. More than 750 organizations already use it with Amélio, with participation rates above 85%: a sign that well-crafted questions make people want to answer. Amélio's engagement diagnostic measures this alignment between people's values and the organization's, then translates it into prioritized action steps.
The bet is ambitious, and it's ours: within a year, you won't recognize the way your teams make decisions. Not because the people will have changed, but because they'll finally share the same reference point, grounded in data rather than impressions.
"Amélio made it possible to structure our engagement approach and turn data into concrete levers for action." André Amyot, VP Talent and Culture, Contrôles Laurentide
Learn more about the expert cited
François Garon, speaker and trainer
Co-author of the book "Who's in Your Room?" and creator of the Code Donneur. francoisgaron.com
Frequently asked questions
How many values should an organization have?
A few lived values beat a long list on display. Most organizations are better off keeping three to five, carefully chosen, that everyone can name from memory and recognize in everyday decisions. A value that never settles anything is just a pleasant word: keep the ones that, on occasion, genuinely commit you.
How do you know if your values are truly lived?
Watch the actions rather than the statements: who gets promoted, what gets rewarded, what gets tolerated. If decisions confirm the stated values, they're lived. To go beyond a hunch, an engagement survey measures the alignment between people's values and the organization's, and reveals where the gap is widening. Amélio's diagnostic is built for exactly that.
Do values really help reduce conflict?
Most conflicts at work don't come from bad faith, but from a clash of values: two people don't put the same thing first. Clearly naming what the organization stands for doesn't make disagreements disappear, but it gives them a shared reference point on which to be resolved, faster and with less friction.
Why measure alignment instead of trusting your gut?
Because gut instinct picks up the loudest voices and forgets the quietest. Without data, alignment is just a feeling: you can row hard without knowing which way. Measuring means knowing where engagement is solid and where to act first. A proven model like the JD-R makes those results reliable, comparable and directly tied to concrete levers.
Your values set the course. The data tells you whether your teams are actually following it.
Make your values a real lever
See how Amélio measures your teams' alignment and turns it into concrete action steps.
Schedule a demo No commitment. A demo tailored to your reality.