How marketing leaders can transform abstract principles into decisive daily actions
Watch any marketing team and you’ll see something strange. The same people who create compelling stories about authentic brands often work in cultures that feel fake. Conference rooms display beautiful posters saying “INNOVATION,” while meetings follow the same boring agenda every week. Walls celebrate “COLLABORATION” while departments barely talk to each other.
This isn’t because people are lying. Most groups fail to grasp values or their function.
Values become powerful when they stop being nice words and start being specific actions. When you shift from thinking about values as things you have to actions you take, everything changes. Teams work better. Decisions get easier. Brands feel more real to customers.
Most companies get values wrong from the start. They pick abstract words like integrity, innovation, or excellence. Then, they hope these ideas will magically appear in people’s daily work. This treats values like office decorations. They look nice, but don’t change how work happens.
Good values work more like instructions. They tell people exactly what to do when facing tough choices or tricky situations. Values, beyond mere inspiration, ought to guide action when the path isn’t clear.
Think about how different teams might understand “customer focus.” One team thinks it means answering every customer email instantly. Another team focuses on guessing what customers need before they ask. A third team believes it means listening carefully to understand the real problem.
Without logical actions attached to each value, the same value creates completely different behaviour.
Values work better as verbs. Rather than state “innovation matters,” try “we test fresh ideas weekly” or “we doubt past actions monthly.” They also make it easy to see if the value is happening.
Abstract values don’t just fail to help. They often make things worse by creating conflicts between well-meaning people. When values stay vague, everyone interprets them through their preferences. It spurs disputes that appear on values, though stem thinking patterns.
Take “excellence” as an example. Perfectionists think this means releasing nothing that isn’t perfect. Practical people think it means doing consistently good work within realistic limits. Both groups believe they are following company values while working toward opposite goals.
Marketing teams face extra challenges because they connect internal culture with external promises. When team behaviour doesn’t match the values being sold to customers, every interaction risks exposing this gap. Customers expect certain experiences based on marketing messages. When real interactions don’t match these expectations, customers feel cheated.
Teams also struggle with values during stressful times. Vague ideals don’t help when deadlines are tight, resources are limited, or quick decisions are needed. In these moments, people fall back on old habits instead of choosing behaviours that reflect company values.
The answer isn’t better values. It’s a better definition of the values you already have.
Changing values from ideas into actions requires being very specific. Values must link, visibly, to between three plus five actions anyone can learn. Such conduct should guide choices, yet permit variance given context.
Start by looking at each current value through an action lens. For “collaboration,” ask what collaboration looks like during planning meetings, crisis management, and regular project work. Write down specific actions that show collaborative behaviour and actions that work against it.
Innovation might become:
Customer focus could mean:
Accountability becomes:
Notice how each statement creates clear expectations while staying flexible for different contexts. Team members can judge their actions against these standards and get specific feedback about how to improve.
Upon having clear behaviour definitions, teams require methods to excel at these actions. Most training focuses on understanding ideas rather than building skills. This leaves people convinced but unchanged in their daily behaviour.
Real values implementation requires practice, feedback, and gradual skill-building. Teams can create safe spaces to try new behaviours without serious consequences. Role-playing exercises, scenario discussions, and peer feedback sessions help people get comfortable with unfamiliar actions.
Leaders speed up this process by consistently showing these behaviours themselves. When leaders model specific actions instead of just talking about general ideas, they give concrete examples of how values translate into daily work. This modelling should happen beyond formal meetings. It needs to show up in casual conversations, difficult discussions, and routine decisions.
Recognition systems should celebrate behavioural demonstration rather than just results. Praising someone for “asking good questions during planning” reinforces the specific action while encouraging others to practice similar behaviours. This builds habits more effectively than recognizing vague value alignment.
Regular feedback conversations can focus on behaviour development rather than performance evaluation. Instead of asking if someone shows “innovation,” discuss specific times when they tested new approaches, challenged assumptions, or sought different perspectives. This feedback becomes more helpful and less subjective.
Behavioural values need to be built into hiring, development, and recognition processes. This integration should feel natural rather than like extra paperwork that creates more work without a fundamental change.
During hiring, behavioural interview questions can show how candidates naturally handle situations that require specific values. Instead of asking about commitment to “teamwork,” explore how they’ve worked across different groups, handled conflicts, or supported colleagues during tough times.
Performance discussions can include behavioural values alongside traditional metrics. Teams can track both what gets done and how work happens. This prevents situations where high performers get rewarded despite showing behaviours that contradict stated values.
Development planning can include specific behavioural skill-building. Instead of generic leadership training, teams can focus on strengthening particular behaviours that support key values. Someone might work on “asking better questions” to support innovation or “giving constructive feedback” to support excellence.
Project reviews can look at both outcomes and process, checking how well the team showed target behaviours during the work. These discussions help teams understand which situations make value demonstration easier or harder.
Turning values into behaviours creates new challenges alongside benefits. Some team members may resist the specificity, preferring the flexibility of abstract values. Others might struggle with behaviours that feel unnatural or require skills they don’t have yet.
Resistance often comes from fear that specific behaviours will create rigid rules rather than authentic commitment. Address this by emphasizing that behavioural definitions provide guidance, not scripts. People can show the same value through different specific actions depending on their roles, personalities, and situations.
Some behaviours require skills that team members haven’t developed yet. “Giving constructive feedback” might scare people who avoid conflict. “Testing new approaches” could feel risky for those used to proven methods. Acknowledge these skill gaps and provide support for development.
Cultural backgrounds and personal experiences affect how people interpret and practice specific behaviours. What counts as “direct communication” varies significantly across different cultures. Build awareness of these differences and allow multiple ways of showing the same underlying value.
Measurement challenges come up when trying to track behavioural demonstration. Unlike traditional metrics, values-based behaviours can’t always be counted precisely. Focus on observing trends rather than exact measurements, and use multiple indicators to understand overall progress.
Behavioural change needs ongoing attention and regular reinforcement. Initial excitement often fades without systematic support for continued development. Teams need structures that make value demonstration feel natural rather than forced.
Regular team discussions about values implementation help maintain focus and provide chances for collaborative problem-solving. When someone struggles with a particular behaviour, the team can brainstorm approaches that might work better for their situation or role.
Environmental design plays a key role in supporting behavioural values. If “transparency” matters, information-sharing systems should make open communication easy rather than difficult. If “innovation” is essential, time and resources should be set aside for experimental work rather than just operational tasks.
Leadership consistency becomes essential for long-term success. When leaders consistently show target behaviours across different situations and stress levels, they build credibility for the entire values system. Inconsistency undermines the effort faster than most other factors.
Celebrate behavioural demonstration even when outcomes aren’t perfect. Someone who practices “seeking diverse perspectives” might not immediately generate better ideas, but they’re building competence in an important skill. Recognizing the behaviour encourages continued practice and gradual improvement.
Teams that turn values into verbs see dramatic improvements across every aspect of their work. Inside the organization, the changes are immediate and measurable. Arguments about priorities decrease because everyone understands what behaviours matter most. Decisions happen faster because people have clear guidelines for tough choices. Team members feel more engaged because they know precisely how to succeed.
The external benefits are even more powerful. Customers can sense when a brand’s promises match reality. A company that claims to prioritize customer service but trains its team to “listen actively and solve problems in the first conversation” delivers genuinely different experiences. These customers become advocates, not just buyers.
Hiring becomes easier, too. Job candidates can picture themselves in the role when they see specific behaviours rather than vague values. Star employees stay longer because their daily experience matches what they were promised during recruitment. Low performers either improve their behaviour or leave naturally.
Perhaps most importantly, teams become more creative and resilient. When “innovation” means “we test small ideas weekly,” people stop waiting for permission to try new things. When “collaboration” means “we share information proactively,” knowledge flows freely across departments. Problems get solved faster, and solutions improve continuously.
The journey from poster values to practiced behaviours starts small but requires genuine commitment. Pick your most important value first. Gather your team and spend real time defining what this value looks like in action. Write down specific behaviours that everyone can see and measure.
Test these behaviours in real work situations for a month. Pay attention to what works and what doesn’t. Adjust the definitions based on what you learn. This isn’t about getting it perfect immediately. It’s about getting it right eventually.
Expect resistance and confusion at first. Change feels uncomfortable, especially when it involves new skills. Some team members will embrace the specificity. Others will miss the flexibility of vague values. Both reactions are normal. Stay patient and keep modelling the behaviours yourself.
Create systems that make the new behaviours easier to practice. If customer focus requires talking to customers, schedule regular customer conversations. When innovation needs research duration, preserve schedule duration that others cannot use. Remove barriers instead of just setting expectations.
Remember that lasting change comes from people choosing to act differently, not from being forced to comply with new rules. Help your team understand why these behaviours matter for their success and the team’s results. Show them how values-as-verbs make their work more meaningful and effective.
Watch as your team discovers something remarkable: values that function as actions don’t feel like constraints. They feel like superpowers. When your team knows exactly how to demonstrate excellence, collaboration, or innovation, they become confident and capable in ways that surprise everyone, including themselves.
Your brand’s values are ready to come alive. The only question is whether you’re prepared to help them take their first steps.
