How to Create Kick-A** Company Values
by Tyler Christiansen, CEO of Funnel
When we set out to develop Funnel’s company culture this year, we strived to define a set of values that would embody who we are as a company, what we aspire to be, and how we should govern ourselves. Using those guidelines, we set a course to redefine our core values using a horizontal vs. top/down approach and implement key insights from all areas of our organization into every facet of our business.
In order to create a culture that would truly embody the essence of our entire organization across all departments, we knew it would be critical to ensure that every employee was represented. At the end of the day, we understood that a successful company culture depended on buy-in from every single employee who would live out our core values.
By developing an Employee Experience Council, we were able to collect insights from all of our internal stakeholders — every employee — and distill that information into core values that accurately reflected our individual and collective goals. Having the opportunity to bond and collaborate on such a foundational piece of our culture really created memorable experiences for our team members to share.
“We were able to collect insights from … every employee and distill that information into core values that accurately reflected our individual and collective goals.” — Tyler Christiansen
When we decided to implement our core values, I set out two rules for the team to follow: Number one, it needed to represent three to five values. And number two, it needed to be memorable.
The core values Funnel ultimately decided on can be synchronized into the acronym P.I.N.K., which stands for Prosocial, Integrity, Novel, and Kick-Ass. I am extremely proud of the creativity that came out of this endeavor to define the best of who we are and the best of who we can be.
We’ve already begun to see the values manifest and benefit the organization. For example, we are seeing increased candor and communication amongst our staff and a truly prosocial attitude where team members “have each others’ backs” and are driven to help each other succeed. I’m also hearing from team members — those who report to me and others across the organization — that our core values are helping them better navigate decisions on a day to day basis.
Outside of our company, we’re receiving positive feedback from peers in our industry as well as future employees. By promoting the tenets of P.I.N.K. on our website and emphasizing our core values, we’ve been able to successfully recruit top talent and ensure that those candidates are aligned with the values we have and aspire to maintain.
The core values of P.I.N.K. are truly guiding lights that we use in every decision we make — whether that’s to hire an individual, which product to build, or which company to partner with. By doing so, we ensure that these decisions are not merely aspirational but strategic to our success.
“For other organizations going through this process of defining core values, my advice is to ensure that it is organic and inclusive.” — Tyler Christiansen
For other organizations going through this process of defining core values, my advice is to ensure that it is organic and inclusive. I don’t think that we could have decided on these values in one meeting with one team. The implementation of these values has been successful because it represents the culmination of every person’s input across all departments.
Want to learn more about P.I.N.K.? View Funnel’s Core Values page »