Objectives provide the teams with a target to move towards. Core values provide them with the shared understanding of how to work together to reach the target. A set of values act like a guidance. It should be present in every interaction.
Strong team values help to avoid conflicts, identify way of working, achieve desired results, create sense of inclusion, and have a pyshcological safety at work. For instance, if the team is valuing the customer pleasure, they will prioritize their work to increase value towards customers. Few examples of core values are the following: curiosity, empathy, customer-centricity, integrity, trust, respect, passion, developing, teamwork, and so on.
In order to come up with a reasonable and legit set of core values, the team needs to provide input based on their experience and expectations so far. Once all input from employees are collected, the categorization & voting should narrow the options down to 3-5. Why 3-5? To be very honest, I just assume that the memorability of more than 5 words is quite unlikely. Once the list is finalized, it is also quite important to describe those values and provide example actions for “how” to live those core values.
Lastly, the journey only starts after defining the core values. It is not enough only to stick the core values on a wall or store it in a random Confluence page. It is important to adhere to them and promote them. Leadership should adopt and inspire the others to embrace the core values. The employees who are creating good examplary deliverables that reflect the values should be recognized and rewarded.