The importance of core values

DURING the height of the pandemic in 2020, the MIT Sloan School of Management studied how corporate culture and values changed and impacted top US companies by examining employee perceptions. Researchers found out that average culture and values ratings across Culture 500 companies "spiked during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US (April-August 2020), and those five months occupy the top five spots in terms of average culture and values ratings for the preceding five years."

This highlights the importance of communicating and reinforcing organizational core values in times of crisis and uncertainties. While we consider our current situation as "post-pandemic," there are still many uncertainties and challenges such as hybrid work, tough business environments and the more recent phenomenon called "quiet quitting." This is why organizations need to revisit their purpose, vision, mission and core values, and examine if these are still aligned to the changing environment.