The Une, Weekly #4 — The Application
Hi there, welcome to The Une. This time, we look at three places where the Value Compass can help close the gap between intention and reality: how a business is built, how an organisation behaves, and how a brand shows up.
We've been receiving requests not only from organisations, but also from brand strategists, HR leaders, business coaches and other professionals asking how they can apply Value Design in their own work, and whether they can participate in a workshop. Of course, we'd love to. We're planning a Value Design Workshop for professionals shortly after the summer.
Back to the gap Despite the enormous effort invested in saying the right things. On websites. Social media. Annual reports. Advertisements. In the values printed on office walls. In the purpose statement. But in daily decisions, budget meetings, supply chain choices and performance reviews, the meaning of those words often disappears. Lost in the gap between what is intended and what is actually being done. Rather than dwelling on the problem, we want to talk about solutions.
Values in action.
Business Which new markets, new products, and new partnerships do we choose? And why? These choices are often assessed on commercial logic alone, but including the social and ecological value principles does not only paint a more complete (and honest) picture of reality, it also offers new opportunities. Together they act as filters for how revenue is generated, which customers are served, which partners are chosen. The compass doesn't just help you spot new possibilities for growth, it also makes explicit which choices erode one dimension to serve another. So you can do something about it. It gives criteria for how the business is being built and prevents value drift when businesses change. The compass travels with the organisation into every new context, asking whether a new activity creates the value we intend to create, across all three dimensions. It helps answer the question: is this direction still aligned with how we intend to create value as an organisation? In practice, that means applying the compass to the choices that shape the business itself. Not as a separate exercise, but as part of how opportunities are pursued, propositions are developed and partnerships are formed.
Value Compass Applications — Business Pursuit Partnerships Propositions Together, they turn values from something the organisation believes into something the business actively builds.
Behaviour Organisations are no different. Research shows knowing what is expected is the single most important driver of employee engagement. When people don't know what it is, they disengage. The system doesn't give them direction they can act on. It’s purpose and values live in ppt slides and on wall posters, not in the daily decisions. The Value Compass brings it right there where it is needed, by informing three core expressions of culture.
Value Compass Applications — Behaviour Rituals Register Relics Together, they make values visible in everyday life. Not as aspirations, but as patterns people can recognise, participate in and strengthen over time. Because culture is not what an organisation says. It is what people repeatedly do.
Brand Greenwashing, purpose-washing, all kinds of washing. Authentic communication and ethical consistency are essential for maintaining trustworthiness. Misalignment between a brand's messaging and its actual practices erodes trust with both customers and employees. But when the value logic is embedded in how the business is built and how the organisation behaves, the brand becomes an expression of what is genuinely true. It is the difference between a brand that communicates purpose and an organisation that is purpose. When the Value Compass guides brand design, the brand is not just internally and externally aligned, it is coherent. And that resonates with everyone that comes into contact with the brand.
Value Compass Applications — Brand Stories Senses Signals Together, they ensure the brand is not a layer applied to the organisation, but an expression of it.
Three domains, one logic Three domains. One logic. Because when value creation, behaviour and communication all follow the same compass, the gap between intention and reality starts to close. In the coming weeks we'll dive deeper into each area and share canvases that help bring Value Design into practice. So values can live in real decisions, relationships and experiences. Not just on paper.
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