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A values statement can sometimes turn out to be a bit too simplistic, with words that sound good on paper but that are difficult to put to practical use. Worse, some firms simply outsource the creation exercise to an external wordsmith and then smugly declare they are woke. We recently came across a research report by Booz Allen Hamilton, a large consulting firm, and the Aspen Institute that found that a majority of the vision statements they examined used five similar terms: Integrity, Teamwork, Authenticity, Sense of fun, Customer orientation. They urged that these be expunged from any such statement, as they smacked of simple follow-the-leader regimentation rather than any sincere effort to unearth and institutionalize the firm’s real values.

To make your values statement really useful, you need to take the next step and link your values to basic, sensible rules that employees at all levels in your company can follow. You may want to create an anonymous “online hotline” where employees can express to senior management their own ideas about values and about how your company is fulfilling its stated values, without fear of retribution. You may even get some unanticipated great new insights this way.

When the time comes to conduct those annual employee performance reviews (you know, the ones that everyone loves to hate), use them as an opportunity to promote your company’s values. Bring out a copy of the values statement and ask each employee how well their individual activities reflect the company’s values. At the same time, ask yourself whether the incentives and reward systems in your company work toward supporting those values. In fact, if you’re really an evangelist, you will tie a portion of that person’s compensation to some metric that measures compliance with firm values. Bet that gets attention fast.