Building principles instead of values gives your organisation something it can use consistently and practically.
Values sound impressive on a website, and they look good in a presentation. But when you're facing a difficult decision, I've found that 'integrity' or 'innovation' alone won't help you choose between two conflicting priorities.
Principles work differently. They tell you what to do when things get complicated.
Take a company that lists 'customer focus' as a value. What does that mean when a customer demands something that may degrade your other customer's experience longer term? You're stuck. But a principle like 'we prioritise long-term customer relationships over short-term wins' gives you a way forward. You know what choice to make.
Here's why principles beat values:
They're specific enough to guide action. A value is abstract. A principle shows you how to behave in real situations. 'Transparency' means nothing until you turn it into 'we share difficult information openly and kindly, even when it's uncomfortable'.
They reveal trade-offs. Every organisation faces competing priorities. Principles help you decide which one wins. If you have a principle that 'we ship working features over hitting arbitrary deadlines', everyone knows what matters when you're up against a release date.
They're testable. You can point to a decision and ask: did we follow our principles? With values, you may find yourself arguing about interpretation. With principles, you're looking at evidence of behaviours in action.
Start by identifying the decisions that cause friction in your organisation. What questions keep coming up? Where do people disagree about the right approach? In my opinion, your principles should answer those questions. Then write them as rules you'd encourage your team to consistently follow. If you wouldn't use it to make a decision next week, it's likely not a useful principle.
What decision is your team struggling with right now?