Most organizations can tell you what they value. The words are on the website, displayed on a wall, included in the employee handbook, or introduced during onboarding, but there is an important difference between having values and actually experiencing them.
A mission, vision, or set of values only becomes meaningful when people can see it reflected in how the organization operates: how employees are welcomed, how meetings are run, how leaders make decisions, how people communicate, and how the business responds when things get difficult.
That gap between what an organization says and what people actually experience is where culture either gains credibility or loses it.
Values Require More Than Good Intentions
One of the biggest challenges organizations face isn’t necessarily creating the right words, but continuing to live those words once the realities of running a business take over.
Businesses get busy, and priorities shift; companies grow, and leaders face pressure. What once felt central to the organization can slowly become something everyone remembers but rarely references.
That doesn’t always happen because leaders stopped caring. Running a good business consistently is difficult. Without discipline and intentional systems, even deeply held values can gradually move into the background.
The solution is to build those values into the way work happens.
Turn Values Into Habits and Systems
Values should influence daily habits, meetings, events, communications, and other recurring experiences across the organization.
Consider onboarding. A new employee shouldn’t simply read what an organization values. They should begin experiencing those values from their first interactions with the company. The language used throughout onboarding, the way information is presented, and the experience itself should reinforce what the organization says it believes.
The same principle applies elsewhere. If an organization says it cares about its employees, people should be able to identify the decisions and practices that demonstrate that care. If it says environmental responsibility matters, that commitment should influence decisions about materials, processes, and sustainability.
The question becomes less about, What do we say we value? and more about, Where can people experience what we value?
Healthy Culture Shows Up in Everyday Moments
Culture can feel abstract until you start looking at the small interactions happening throughout an organization.
Meetings are one example. In a healthy culture, people understand why they’re there, and they come prepared. There is a process and a format, and people respect one another, even when they disagree.
Leadership behavior matters just as much. Strong culture can show up when the CEO speaks last rather than first, recognizes what other people are contributing, and remains genuinely connected to what’s happening throughout the organization.
It can also show up when an employee feels comfortable disagreeing with leadership or saying that something isn’t working.
Those moments reveal something important: Do people feel seen, heard, and safe enough to contribute honestly?
Culture isn’t simply how people behave when everything is going well. It is reflected in the systems, relationships, and behaviors that shape everyday work.
Rebuilding Culture Requires Clarity and Consistency
The challenge becomes even greater when trust has already been damaged.
Maybe the leadership changed, or commitments weren’t followed through on. Maybe employees experienced a significant gap between what the company promised and what actually happened. There isn’t a six-week sprint that can instantly repair that.
Culture moves slowly, so turning it can be more like turning a barge than flipping a switch.
Start With Truth
When trust has been broken, clarity becomes essential.
Leaders need to be clear about where the organization is today, where it is trying to go, and what role people have in getting there. The appropriate level of transparency will vary by organization and circumstance, but rebuilding trust requires people to see consistency between what leadership says and what leadership does.
Everyone is watching. Employees notice whether leaders follow through. They talk to one another. They notice contradictions. And when leadership makes a mistake, people notice how that mistake is handled too.
That makes consistency critical.
Remember…leaders don’t need to pretend they know everything. In fact, vulnerability and self-awareness can create stronger conversations. Being willing to say, I don’t know what to do next, and I need help, can open the door to the honest dialogue required for meaningful change.
But leadership also has to own the work. Culture transformation cannot happen in a vacuum or be delegated to one enthusiastic person while the decision-making team remains disconnected.
If the organization wants its values to become real, leadership has to participate, listen, follow through, and model what those values look like.
Purpose Begins With Better Questions
Before an organization can translate its purpose into systems and behaviors, it needs clarity around why that purpose matters.
One powerful place to start is with a question: If our organization didn’t exist, what would the world be missing?
The answer may begin with a product or service, but it can extend much further. Consider the vendors supported by the business, the careers being developed, the families impacted, and the communities affected by the organization’s work.
Then go deeper: Why do we get out of bed in the morning to do this work?
If that answer isn’t energizing anymore, why not?
These questions help organizations examine whether they understand what they’re trying to accomplish and whether their current behaviors actually support it.
Your Organization Is a Living System
Purpose isn’t something an organization defines once and considers complete.
Businesses evolve, employees change, customers change, and markets change. Even the most successful organizations move through cycles.
That means leaders also need to ask: If nothing changes and we continue operating exactly as we are today, what will our organization look like in three, five, or ten years?
That question can reveal where today’s success may be hiding tomorrow’s challenges. It also encourages leaders to think about the organization as a living system, one that is continually having a conversation with both employees and customers.
What does the business need to give its employees?
What does it need to give its customers?
And equally important: What does the organization need to hear from both?
Organizations often focus heavily on what they want to communicate. A healthy culture also creates ways to listen.
Making Purpose Part of the Work
Vision, mission, and values shouldn’t exist beside the business. They should shape the business.
They should influence how someone experiences their first day, how teams gather for meetings, how leaders respond to feedback, how decisions get made, and how the organization navigates difficult moments.
The goal isn’t perfection, but alignment.
When values are embedded into everyday systems and behaviors, people no longer need a handbook to remind them what the organization stands for. They can experience it, and that’s when culture moves from something an organization says to something its people actually live.
Listen to the episode: Gut + Science | 332: On Purpose: Turning Values Into Action at Work with Justin Ahrens
Key Takeaways:
- Vision thrives when integrated into daily business rhythms.
- Leadership must model behaviors aligned with stated values.
- Systems are essential for values to stick.
- Culture isn’t created in a vacuum, engage everyone.
- Clarity, consistency, and vulnerability build trust.
Things to listen for:
[00:03:00] Why clarity becomes powerful when people can see themselves in the organization’s story.
[00:09:00] How the gap develops between an organization’s stated values and the employee experience.
[00:11:00] Why values need to be incorporated into daily habits, meetings, events, and communication.
[00:13:00] What values-driven onboarding and culture look like in practice.
[00:17:00] What employee feedback can reveal about psychological safety and whether people feel heard.
[00:19:00] Why clarity, truth, and consistent leadership matter when rebuilding trust.
[00:23:00] Why culture doesn’t turn overnight, and why trying to rush the process can undermine it.
[00:26:00] The question leaders can ask to uncover the deeper purpose of their organization.
[00:28:00] How thinking about the future can reveal what needs to change today.
[00:29:00] Why organizations need to listen to employees and customers, not simply communicate to them.