We defined our Core Values during our initial EOS® sessions, but they feel like generic corporate platitudes that do not help us make tough hiring or firing decisions. How do we inject teeth into our Core Values so they actually police our culture?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

If your Core Values feel generic, it is because they are likely defined as nouns rather than observable behaviors. Values like integrity, excellence, or teamwork are useless if they do not have specific behavioral definitions that your team can actually recognize and measure.

To fix this, you must translate each Core Value into a set of non-negotiable behaviors. For example, if your value is teamwork, redefine it as something action-oriented, such as always supporting a teammate in public and debating in private.

Once you have defined these behaviors, integrate them directly into your hiring, review, and firing processes using the People Analyzer™. This tool must become the final authority on culture. Every employee, from the executive team to entry-level hires, must be evaluated against these values on a scale of plus, plus-minus, or minus.

A plus means they exhibit the value consistently. A plus-minus means they exhibit it sometimes, and a minus means they rarely exhibit it. You must establish a clear cultural bar, such as requiring all team members to score at least three pluses and no minuses.

If an employee falls below your bar, you must have a hard conversation. Give them thirty days to correct the behavior. If they fail to improve, you must terminate them, regardless of their operational performance. When the team sees you fire a high-revenue producer because they violate a Core Value, everyone will know the values are real.