Company values help identify what companies stand for and help bring in like-minded customers and employees who believe in the same values. To establish values, companies must take steps like consulting everyone in the organization and creating a defined mission statement.

HR leaders must embody company values to create a transparent culture for the employees. Here, nine Forbes Human Resources Council members share other steps that can be used to do this.

1. Consult Everyone In the Organization

The first step should always be consulting all people within the organization. A company-wide engagement survey allows everyone to have a voice and provides leadership with deeper insight into what the company truly values. Trying to force values from leadership downward will never have as great of an impact as the values created from individual contributors and working upward. - Nicole Stines, Shop-Ware

2. Create A Defined Mission Statement

Start with a defined mission statement and use that as an umbrella over your values. The mission statement will show if your work is aligned with, and fueled by, those values. Organizational values provide a company with purpose and direction, and should inspire and engage colleagues, candidates and customers. - Chris Michalak, Virgin Pulse

3. Align The Mission With Your Vision

The first step is for leadership to align with the mission and vision of the company. Then, identify behaviors demonstrated to achieve or enable that. Those behaviors can then be collated into defined company values. This ensures the values can be integrated into everyday processes, which will ultimately build the right culture overtime. - Tosha Perkins, Archer

4. Understand Traits That Make A Leader

The first step to establishing values is understanding what you value as a leader. Find the traits or characteristics in your top performers that make them top performers and you've found your values. Honesty, high work ethic and collaboration can all be worked into your values. This practice is effective because you already value these traits. It will help you understand yourself and your company. - Norm Johnson, Giant Communications

5. Get A Feel Of Where Your Team Is

Getting a pulse on what employees think is important is crucial. We’ll never get buy-in or adoption if we don’t find common ground across the organization. It is tricky to ensure they aren’t boiled down into vanilla values. They need to be authentic, somewhat differentiating and something we can hold each other accountable for in the future. - Kim Hazen, Fulcrum Therapeutics

6. Make A Document About Company Values

As a veteran start-up founder, the best advice is to create a document capturing your company's cultural values on day one. Transparency and communication are keys to building a strong culture. Start-ups should capture what they care about and reinforce them weekly with the teams by asking for feedback often. Cultures evolve and must be directed, but ultimately owned by the teams to succeed. - Adam Wray, AstrumU

7. Get Your Employees Involved

Involve your employees in the discussion. While the values of an organization can be aspirational when building culture, ask employees which values they see in practice. A successful people-centric company ensures that aspirational and experienced values are aligned. When they are, trust is built and people are more engaged and committed to their work experience. - Bjorn Reynolds, Safeguard Global

8. Recruit Like-Minded People

A company’s values are only strong when they’re upheld and supported by the entire organization. It’s ideal to establish values at the company’s inception and recruit like-minded individuals, but not always possible. Leaders starting anew in an established organization must find out what unites their workforce such as integrity or connections, and craft its values from there. - Noelle Federico, Delta Hire

9. Use Daily Examples And Written Policy

Establishing values should come from the top down through written policy and daily examples. Most companies naturally form a value system based on the founder’s goals, but as companies grow, these values can get muddied if not stated clearly, leaving team members confused about priorities. If you're starting from scratch, think back to the early days of the company to get a more holistic view. - Laura Spawn, Virtual Vocations, Inc.

Originally published on Forbes.com

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