Create and Implement Organizational Values in Construction

Recruiting and retaining a great team is a key component of success and has been particularly challenging for construction businesses in recent years. One often overlooked strategy in attracting and keeping the right people is developing and communicating company values.

Core values are more than words — they are the moral compass of an organization, influencing every aspect of its operations and interactions. They are guiding principles that outline how the company does business and its commitment to stakeholders.

Establishing organizational values is key to creating a positive workplace culture, ensuring safety, and delivering high-quality projects. Here are some tips to consider when integrating values for your construction company.

Set the Tone When Hiring

Setting the tone of an organization’s ideals when hiring can attract candidates who align with your company’s culture and principles. Clearly communicating core values and the mission helps construction companies develop engaged and productive teams that are committed to organizational success.

Referring to organizational values when hiring can create a stronger foundation to attract candidates who not only have the required skills but also are excited about an organization’s vision and culture.

Include Values in Employee Reviews

Reviewing employees with company values in mind helps reinforce organizational culture and ensures employee behaviors align with the company’s goals.

Considering a values-based approach for employee annual reviews is one way to gauge an employee’s continued commitment to the ideals and mission of an organization. It can also emphasize behaviors that support the company’s culture and long-term ambitions. By including core values in employee reviews, companies can build cohesive and values-driven teams that align with the company’s mission.

Set the Example at the Top

The CEO and other leadership positions embody the company spirit. They represent the business in the public sphere and employees look to them as role models, intentionally or inadvertently. Effective leadership that personifies a company’s values builds trust between employees and management and can help create accountability and consistency in behavior across the organization.

When leaders live and breathe organizational values, they strengthen the company’s culture and can enhance its reputation, performance and overall success.

Be Specific with Expectations

Defining specific core values creates a focused, aligned and differentiated organizational culture. Concrete principles help guide behavior, foster accountability, support strategic goals, and enhance overall organizational effectiveness and resilience. If core values are overly broad, they become less effective and fail to provide clear guidance or alignment within an organization.

When crafting company values, it’s essential to be specific and to make the core values meaningful and actionable. Clearly defining values that are unique to the organization,  aligning them with the company’s strategic plan, and ensuring they are embedded into daily practices and decision-making processes are ways to set these expectations with employees and stakeholders. For example, a construction company with a focus on “green building techniques” can clarify that this means “sourcing sustainable materials and rewarding certifications in sustainability,” or a company dedicated to “driving innovation” can explain that value represents a commitment to “taking a forward approach to technology and delivering creative solutions to challenging construction projects.”

Specific values that are relevant and resonant with employees can boost performance and foster a sense of shared purpose within your company.

Let the Values Evolve, If Needed

Some organizational values, especially specific ones, could develop over time to reflect changing circumstances, new insights, and the evolving needs and priorities of the organization and its stakeholders. Times change, people change, and current ideals could feel less relevant years later.

As a construction team changes, it’s also important to get feedback from employees on how the business can evolve for the better. By creating values that are open to evolution, companies can express a commitment to continuous improvement, adaptation, and responsiveness to evolving circumstances.

Organizational values provide a framework that encourages a clear sense of purpose and direction. They should be regularly reviewed and refined based on feedback and changing organizational needs to remain relevant and impactful in guiding behavior and decision making.

Actively cultivating and maintaining a construction company’s ideals can create a strong foundation for a positive workplace culture, improved project outcomes, strategic alignment and long-term success.

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