Values-Based Training: “If Your Values Are Real, Train Your People to Live Them”

Everyone says their values matter.

But very few companies act like they do.

You’ve seen it before: companies proudly display their values on walls, recite them at all-hands meetings, and feature them in onboarding slides.

But when it comes to the real stuff — like who gets promoted, how tough conversations are handled, or how teams navigate tradeoffs — those values often go missing.

That’s the problem.

It’s not enough to state your values.
You have to operationalize them — so they show up in decisions, behaviors, and culture.

And that starts with training.

Here’s why values-based training matters:

Most employees don’t know their company’s values, and even fewer know how to apply them.

We’ve surveyed thousands of employees, and when asked to name their organization’s core values, most either draw a blank or guess incorrectly. If people can’t name the values, they’re certainly not using them to guide their day-to-day decisions.

Even when employees can recite the values, they often don’t know what those values look like in action.

For example:

What does “put people first” mean when you're managing a low performer who's impacting the team?
What does “celebrate our differences” look like when someone tells a joke that crosses a line?

Those are the moments that matter.
That’s where training comes in.

“If you don’t define your values in action, your culture will do it for you.

And you may not like what it decides.

Training anchors the organization’s norms, ensuring your culture develops intentionally rather than by default.”

— Holistic