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Organizational values are meant to guide how employees make decisions, work together, and approach their work. But as organizations change, their values may need to be revisited to ensure they still align with the organization’s strategy and help guide everyday decisions and behaviours.

CPA Alberta found itself revisiting its original core values 10 years after they were developed. Factors in its external environment, such as economic uncertainty, artificial intelligence, calls for greater social justice and more remote work spurred the change. Its strategic priorities had been updated, and half of its employees had joined the organization in the previous five years working across two offices and from home.

An internal poll suggested that the organization’s values were no longer top of employees’ minds. The poll found only 5% of employees had the organization’s values memorized, 68% knew where to find them if needed, and 11% said they had read them during onboarding but had not thought about them since.

How could CPA Alberta renew its values to reflect its updated strategy and changing environment?

“Organizational values only have value when they act as an implicit compass to guide employee decisions. One way to improve the resonance of your organization’s values is to undertake a value renewal process with your employees.” - Norman T. Sheehan

Edwards School of Business researcher Norman Sheehan and Todd Scaletta of Foresight and Research at CPA Alberta worked on the organization's value renewal process. Norman offered advice through the value renewal process as well as being an observer while Todd worked behind the scenes to support the process. The article was written up as an interview with Rachel Miller, President and CEO of CPA Alberta, who led the renewal process.

One of the first decisions was how employees should be involved. CPA Alberta considered three approaches: leadership could select the values; employees could provide input while leadership made the final decision; or employees could select the values themselves. The organization chose the middle approach: employees would vote on potential values and help define what they looked like in practice, while the Senior Executive Team would make the final selection.

To prepare employees to select their preferred values they first took part in a “Core Values Webinar”, where they learned about personal and organizational values and their role in organizational decision making. This was followed by the All-Staff Values Workshop where 108 participants, including employees and members of the Senior Executive Team, worked in groups to explore 16 potential values and what they would mean within CPA Alberta.

At the All-Staff Values Workshop employees were asked to work through questions such as:

• What does this value look like in action at CPA Alberta?
• What actions are acceptable and which actions are not?
• How would you describe it to someone who doesn't work here?
• Write a story of how a CPA employee has lived the value in action.

CPA Alberta's value renewal process didn't end when the values were selected. The organization renamed its Code of Conduct policy "Core Values in Action" and added guidance on how employees could demonstrate each value.

The values were also incorporated into goal setting and rewards, peer recognition, job postings and interview questions. Employees were asked to review and acknowledge them annually, and visual reminders, such as mousepads and posters, were introduced in the workplace.

The article emphasizes that selecting values is only the first step. Organizations also need to consider how those values will be incorporated into existing practices if they are expected to influence decisions and behaviours.

CPA Alberta reported some encouraging indicators following the renewal. Between June and December 2025, employees awarded 182 merit prizes to recognize colleagues who demonstrated the renewed values in action. The organization’s annual employee turnover rate also decreased by 25% in 2025.

While CPA Alberta’s approach was designed for its particular context, its experience highlights several considerations for other organizations renewing their values:

1. The values presented to the employees to select from must be customized for the organization. While there are many freely available lists of values on the Internet, these needed to be carefully curated before being presented to the employees.
2. Have employees define what behaviours values include and what they do not. Employees identified both acceptable and unacceptable behaviours associated with the renewed values, creating a concrete and shared understanding of how the values should guide their work.
3. After selecting the values, leadership has a role in making sure the employees buy in and use the values. To that end, changes to HR processes and policies, employee evaluation and hiring can have a large impact.
4. Prepare people to participate. CPA Alberta provided employees with information about organizational values and prepared table hosts to facilitate during the all-staff meeting before beginning the process. It is important the CEO be seen to support the value renewal process but then should step back so that employees feel they have the space to select the values that mean most to them.

For organizations considering the value of their own values, this raises a few useful questions:

• Do employees know what your organization’s values mean in practice?
• Do they understand what behaviours do and don’t align with those values?
• Are the values still aligned with your organization's strategy and culture?
• Where do they show up in everyday decisions and workplace practices?