If your organisation has no values, or they are changing
This session starts from values the organisation already has. It does not write values from scratch, and it does not change their official wording.
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| The organisation has no published values | Do not write values in this session. Use the team charter template to agree a purpose and working agreements instead. If the team wants values of its own, first agree with the leadership who owns them; writing values is a different session with a different decision. |
| The values are being rewritten | Wait until the new wording is published, or run only the working agreements of the team charter now and this session later. |
| People disagree with a value itself | Write the question on the parking sheet and send it to the person who owns the values. Work on the behaviours the team can agree. Do not edit the official wording in the room. |
| There are more than five values | Agree with the team lead before the session which four or five matter most for this team now, and say so at the start. Cover the rest in a second session. |
| Values are part of performance ratings | Say at the start that nothing written today is used to rate a person. Keep the sheets in the team space, not in personal files. |
| The team is in an open conflict, or the session follows a complaint | Do not run it. Speak to the manager or HR first. A values session is not a way to settle a dispute between named people. |
The behaviour test
Run every “looks like” and “does not look like” line through all four tests. A line that fails one test is rewritten, not dropped. The test was written for this kit; it is a practical check, not a validated model.
| Test | Ask | Fails the test | Passes the test |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Seen | Could someone see or hear it happen? | “We are reliable.” | “We write every promise made on a call in the account notes before we close the call.” |
| 2. Often | Does the moment come up in our work at least once a month? | “We stay calm in a crisis.” (rare for most teams) | “When a date slips, the customer hears it from us before the date passes.” |
| 3. Ours | Can this team do it without anyone else’s approval or budget? | “We get a better ticket system.” | “We mark a message urgent only when it needs an answer within two hours.” |
| 4. Specific | Would it sound odd in another team’s list, because it names our work? | “We communicate openly.” | “We question a figure in a report before it goes out, even when a senior person wrote it.” |
Hard-moment cards
Eight fictional situations. Each group tests its behaviours against two cards.
| Card | The situation | Ask your group |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The Friday promise | A customer asks for a firm answer today. You will only know on Tuesday whether the refund can be paid. | Which behaviour tells you what to say? Does any behaviour push you to promise too soon? |
| 2. The figure that looks wrong | In a meeting with two senior managers you notice that a total in the plan on screen looks wrong. You are not certain. | Which behaviour helps you speak? What would make it easier to say? |
| 3. The busy week | A colleague asks you to show them a new tool. It is your busiest week of the month. | Which two values pull apart here? What would you do? |
| 4. The meeting that runs over | A 30-minute meeting with five people reaches the end without a decision. The next agenda item is short. | Do you stop, or run over? Which behaviour decides it? |
| 5. The shortcut | A faster way to close a case skips one check step. The check rarely finds an error, but when it does the error is costly. | Which behaviour applies? Who would you tell before you change the process? |
| 6. The idea in someone else’s name | A colleague’s idea was presented by another person in a senior meeting. The colleague was not there. | Which value is at stake? What would you do this week, and in what words? |
| 7. The repeated mistake | A new colleague makes the same mistake you explained last week. | Which behaviour helps here, and which would do harm? |
| 8. The 21:00 message | A message from a colleague in another time zone arrives at 21:00 your time. It is marked urgent. | Do your behaviours say what “urgent” means? What would you change? |
Commitment wording: weak and strong
A commitment names a situation, a behaviour and what the value protects. These examples are fictional; write your own from the team’s moments.
| Weak | Strong | Why the strong version works |
|---|---|---|
| We keep our promises. | When we cannot meet a date we gave a customer, we tell them before the date passes, with a new date we have checked. | It names the moment and the action, so the team can tell whether it happened. |
| We communicate better. | When we change a shared document after it has been sent, we post one line in the team channel saying what changed. | “Better” has no moment. The rewrite picks one real moment where communication fails. |
| We will always speak up. | When we see a risk to a deadline, we post it in the team channel the same day, with one proposed next step. | “Always” fails on the first busy day. A named situation can be kept. |
| We respect each other. | When someone is speaking in the Monday huddle, we let them finish before anyone replies. | Respect is the value. The commitment is one behaviour that shows it. |
| Nobody sends messages after 18:00. | When we send a request after 18:00, we write when we need the answer, and it is not before 10:00 the next working day. | A rule with no exceptions breaks when there is a real emergency. The rewrite allows late messages and removes the late answer. |
Groups for your team size
One value per group where the team is large enough, with groups of two to four. A smaller team works in pairs (or one trio) and each pair takes two values; give each value half of the 18 minutes. The “Groups” sheet in the workbook applies the same rule to any team size.
| People | Values | Groups | Group sizes | Values per group |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 of 2 | up to 2 values each |
| 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 of 2, 1 of 3 | up to 2 values each |
| 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 of 2 | up to 2 values each |
| 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 of 2 | 1 value each |
| 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 of 3 | 1 value each |
| 16 | 4 | 4 | 4 of 4 | 1 value each |
| 10 | 5 | 5 | 5 of 2 | 1 value each |
| 16 | 3 | 4 | 4 of 4 | 1 value each; 1 value taken by two groups |
Filled example: behaviour sheet for “Keep our promises”
The first draft failed two tests and was rewritten as the next three lines.
| Line | Seen | Often | Ours | Specific | Passed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Looks like: We are reliable. (first draft) | No | Yes | Yes | No | 2 of 4 |
| Looks like: We give customers a date we have checked in the work queue, not a hopeful one. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 of 4 |
| Looks like: When a date slips, the customer hears it from us before the date passes. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 of 4 |
| Looks like: We write every promise made on a call in the account notes before we close the call. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 of 4 |
| Does not look like: Saying “I’ll sort it today” to end a difficult call. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 of 4 |
| Does not look like: Leaving a promise in someone else’s queue without telling them. | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 of 4 |
Filled example: the four values in this team
A fictional eight-person customer accounts team, after the read-through. Every line passed all four tests.
| Value | Looks like here | Does not look like here |
|---|---|---|
| Keep our promises | We give customers a date we have checked in the work queue, not a hopeful one. When a date slips, the customer hears it from us before the date passes. We write every promise made on a call in the account notes before we close the call. | Saying “I’ll sort it today” to end a difficult call. Leaving a promise in someone else’s queue without telling them. |
| Speak up early | We post a risk to a deadline in the team channel on the day we see it, with one next step. In the Monday huddle anyone can say “I’m stuck” and a helper is named before the huddle ends. We question a figure in a report before it goes out, even when a senior person wrote it. | Raising a known problem for the first time on the due date. Agreeing in the meeting and disagreeing in a private chat afterwards. |
| Learn every day | After a complaint is closed, the person who handled it posts one lesson in the Friday notes. A new colleague works alongside an experienced one on their first ten complex cases. We try a suggested change for two weeks before we judge it. | Fixing the same error quietly every month without telling anyone where it starts. Answering a question with “just read the guide”. |
| Respect people’s time | Every meeting invite has a purpose and an agenda. Meetings end five minutes before the hour or the half hour. We mark a message urgent only when it needs an answer within two hours. | Inviting the whole team “just in case”. Sending a request after 18:00 that expects an answer the same evening. |
Filled example: commitments
Agreed on Tuesday 3 November 2026; review on Tuesday 8 December 2026, 35 days later. These commitments go into the team charter as working agreements.
| Value | Our commitment | What we will notice | Steward | Agreed on | Review date | Days to review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keep our promises | When we cannot meet a date we gave a customer, we tell the customer before the date passes, with a new date we have checked, so that our dates can be trusted. | Dates missed with no message beforehand, from the weekly queue report | Adviser A | Tue 3 Nov | Tue 8 Dec | 35 |
| Speak up early | When we see a risk to a deadline, we post it in the team channel the same day, with one proposed next step, so that nobody hears about it on the due date. | Risks posted, and deadlines missed with no earlier post | Team lead | Tue 3 Nov | Tue 8 Dec | 35 |
| Learn every day | When a complaint is closed, the person who handled it posts one lesson in the Friday notes, so that the next person does not repeat it. | Lessons in the Friday notes against complaints closed that week | Adviser B | Tue 3 Nov | Tue 8 Dec | 35 |
| Respect people’s time | When we book a meeting, we send its purpose and agenda with the invite and end five minutes early, so that people can prepare and get to the next one. | Invites with a purpose and agenda; meetings that ended early | Adviser C | Tue 3 Nov | Tue 8 Dec | 35 |
Filled example: review after five weeks
Share kept = seen ÷ (seen + missed or hard), rounded. Totals: 46 seen, 13 missed or hard. The team decides; the share does not decide for it.
| Commitment (value) | Week to 6 Nov | Week to 13 Nov | Week to 20 Nov | Week to 27 Nov | Week to 4 Dec | Seen | Missed or hard | Share kept | Decision | What we change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keep our promises | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 2 | 85% | Keep | Both misses were on Fridays. Add a Thursday check of dates due on Friday. |
| Speak up early | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 56% | Adapt | Risks were seen in the huddle but not posted. Post from the huddle, in the meeting, before it ends. |
| Learn every day | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 92% | Keep | The Friday notes are read. Keep the one-lesson limit. |
| Respect people’s time | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 18 | 6 | 75% | Adapt | Agendas are sent. Ending early fails in back-to-back meetings. Try 25 and 50-minute bookings. |
What you'll leave with
In 90 minutes the team writes, for each of up to five existing values, three behaviours that show it and two that do not, each passing a four-part test, and one commitment with a steward and a review date.
Before the session
- For team leads, L&D and HR partners and facilitators working with an intact team of 4–16 people at work.
- Write each value’s official wording, source and owner on the moments sheet. With more than five values, agree with the team lead which to cover. With none, do not run it; see the no-values table.
- Print a moments sheet per person, a behaviour sheet per value, the cards, and one commitment, parking and review sheet. Online, use one shared document with a section per value.
- Send the sheets as plain text a day early to anyone who asks. All activities are seated and can be done in writing. Passing is allowed, cameras are optional, no personal stories.
The run of show
Open and set the scope
Three minutes: say the purpose. Say: “Our organisation already has these values. Today we will not rewrite them. We will agree what each one looks like in our own work, what it does not look like, and one commitment for each value that we will review on [review date].” Two minutes: show the parking sheet. Say: “If you have a question about a value itself, or you disagree with its wording, write it here. I will send it to [values owner] and bring the answer back.” Three minutes: agree the rules. Moments come from the work, not from anyone’s private life. A “does not look like” line describes a behaviour, never a named colleague. Anyone can pass or write instead of speaking. Nothing written today is used to rate a person.
Read the values and write what each asks of us
Two minutes: read each value aloud with its official wording, and say where it is published and who owns it. Five minutes of silent writing on the moments sheet: for each value, one line on what it asks of this team in particular. Say: “Not what the value means in general. What does it ask of us, with our customers, our tools and our deadlines?”
Collect recent moments
Six minutes of silent writing on the moments sheet: for each value, a moment from the last three months when it showed in the work, and a moment when it was hard to live. Say: “No names, and nothing you would not want read aloud.” Six minutes: go round once. Each person reads one moment, hands it over in writing or passes. Note each moment in a few words under its value on a flip chart or in the shared document. Online, people type their moments in the chat or the shared document.
Draft behaviours and test them
Two minutes: form groups with the group planner, one value per group (see “Groups for your team size”), and show the behaviour test. Ten minutes: each group fills a value behaviour sheet with at least three “looks like here” lines and two “does not look like here” lines, using the moments under its value. Say: “Write what someone could see or hear. Start with ‘We…’ or with a situation: ‘When…’.” Six minutes: the group runs each line through the four tests (seen, often, ours, specific), ticks the boxes and rewrites any line that fails a test. Say: “If nobody could see or hear it happen, rewrite it.” Walk between groups and ask for one example moment behind each line.
Test the behaviours against hard moments
Two minutes: give each group two hard-moment cards. Choose cards that touch its value; card 3 and card 6 suit most values. Six minutes: for each card the group asks whether its behaviours say what to do, and changes or adds one line if they do not. Seven minutes: each group reports in about a minute and a half: the card, what their behaviours told them, and one line they changed. Say: “A value is easy on a quiet day. These cards show whether our lines still help on a hard one.”
Break
Five minutes. Put all the behaviour sheets on the wall, or keep the shared document open, so people can read them on the way back.
Read all the values and choose one commitment each
Five minutes: everyone reads all the behaviour sheets and adds written notes: a tick for “I can do this”, a question mark for “unclear”. Four minutes: each group turns its strongest behaviour into one commitment, using the form “When [situation], we [behaviour], so that [what the value protects].” Use the table “Commitment wording: weak and strong” if a draft is vague. Six minutes: read each commitment aloud. Ask for concerns before support. Then each person shows or writes one of three answers: support, can live with it, cannot support. If anyone cannot support it, ask: “What would you need to change?” Change it once. If it is still blocked, park the commitment on the parking sheet and keep the behaviours.
Name what you will notice, a steward and a review date
Four minutes: fill in the commitment sheet together. For each commitment write what the team will notice when it is kept (a count or a record you already have), a steward and the review date. Say: “A steward keeps the commitment visible and brings the count to the review. A steward does not police colleagues.” Three minutes: set the review date four to six weeks away and book a 20-minute slot now. Agree that the stewards count once a week: the times the team saw the commitment kept, and the times it was missed or hard.
Read back and close
Read the commitments aloud. Say: “These go into our team charter as working agreements, and we review them on [review date].” Ask each person for one word about the session, aloud or in the chat, or a pass. Collect the parking sheet and say when the answers will come back.
Participant worksheet
Copy this table into a document, or print the worksheet from the bundle. Share only what you choose.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Before you start | Official wording, owner and source of each value. If there are none, use the team charter instead. |
| Moments sheet | For each value: what it asks of this team, a moment it showed, a moment it was hard |
| Value behaviour sheet | Three “looks like here” and two “does not look like here” lines, each through four tests |
| Hard-moment cards | Eight fictional situations to test whether the lines still help |
| Commitment sheet | One commitment per value: When…, we…, so that…, what we will notice, steward, review date |
| Review sheet | Times seen and times missed per commitment, then keep, adapt or drop |
Debrief questions
- Which line changed most between the first draft and the version that passed the four tests, and what made the difference?
- Which hard-moment card showed two values pulling in different directions, and what did the team agree to do in that moment?
- Which “does not look like” line describes something this team does now, and what would make it easier to stop?
- What will the stewards count, and what would tell you at the review that a commitment should be adapted or dropped?
Adapt it for your group
- For 4 or 5 people, work in pairs (or one trio) and give each pair two values; split the 18 minutes for drafting and testing into nine minutes per value. In the commitment step, the whole team writes one commitment per value together.
- For a 60-minute version, cut the moments step to 6 minutes and the drafting step to 14, and leave out the hard-moment cards and the break (90 − 6 − 4 − 15 − 5 = 60). Use the cards at the first review instead.
- Online, use breakout rooms for the groups and one shared document with a section per value, the behaviour test at the top and the cards pasted in each section. People type moments in the chat or the document; cameras are optional. For the support check, use a three-option poll or written replies.
- For quiet participants or anyone who prefers not to speak, every step can be done in writing: moments on the sheet, notes on the behaviour sheets, and the support check as a written answer. Read sheets aloud rather than asking the writer to. Passing is always allowed and needs no reason.
- For a large organisation with several teams, run the session team by team with the same values, owner and test. Do not compare teams’ counts at the review; each team’s commitments fit its own work. Send the parking sheets to the values owner together.
After the session
Within one working day, send the commitment sheet and the behaviour sheets to the team and add each commitment to the team charter as a working agreement. Send the parking sheet to the values owner and give the team the date the answers will come back. Each Friday the stewards note two counts per commitment: times the team saw it kept and times it was missed or hard. On the review date, hold a 20-minute review with the review sheet and decide to keep, adapt or drop each commitment. Write the next review date before you close.
Questions people ask
How do you run a company values workshop with a team?
Start from the values the organisation already has. Read them, collect recent moments from the work when each value showed or was hard, and draft what each value looks like in this team and what it does not look like. Test each line with four questions (seen, often, ours, specific), then agree one commitment per value with a steward and a review date. This kit times those steps in 90 minutes.
What if our organisation has no values?
Do not write them in this session. This kit assumes published values. Use the team charter template to agree a purpose and working agreements instead. If the team wants values of its own, first agree with the leadership who owns them, because writing values is a different decision that needs a different session. The same applies while values are being rewritten.
How is this different from the team charter template?
The team charter template writes a team’s purpose, decision rights and working agreements from the problems the team has now. This session starts from the organisation’s values and turns each one into behaviours and one commitment. Its commitments go into the charter as working agreements. The trust building activities are a separate 45-minute conversation session and do not use the values.
Can we change or vote on the company values in this session?
No. The official wording stays as it is. A question or disagreement about a value goes on the parking sheet and to the person who owns the values. The team works on the behaviours it can agree now.
Can the behaviours be used in appraisals or performance reviews?
This kit is not built for that and says so at the start. The behaviours and commitments describe how the team works together, and the counts at the review describe the team, not a person. Follow your organisation’s own policy for performance reviews.
What is included in the free and editable files?
The open PDF has every participant sheet, the eight cards, four filled examples and the 90-minute plan. Subscribers also receive the editable Word file, an Excel workbook (session plan, group planner, a behaviour board that applies the tests, commitments with days to the review, and a review tally) and a CSV of the session plan.
How to use the files
Print the PDF, edit the Word file in Word or Google Docs, or open the CSV or XLSX in a spreadsheet. Open files need no email.
Can I use this with paying clients?
Yes. Use and adapt this original Superglue kit in your own training, including paid client sessions. Please share this page rather than redistributing the unmodified kit. Read the full usage terms.