People are always asking me how we keep GotVMail's core values at the forefront of the company's collective consciousness. The short answer: any way we can. The emphasis on core purpose, core values and brand promise is very important to me, so we try to get the core values into email signatures or on the footer of our company wiki, or anywhere else that seems useful. We also work them into the performance management process so that these words are meaningful and visible to team members as often as possible.
In an increasingly "digital" world, it can be helpful to return to our old standby, paper, to keep our core values visible. Sure, that sounds odd coming from a CTO, but it just stands to reason that with most of our informational universe on computers and Blackberries, it stands out when you have a sticky note adhered to your desk. That's why we had custom sticky notes printed. At the top of the notepad is our brand promise, finished off at the bottom with core purpose and core values. Whether you're writing "buy eggs after work" or a customer's call back number, those core values pop up at you and hopefully entrench themselves subliminally. We think this mix of direct and indirect repetition is effective for keeping our core values top of mind.
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