Kim Blue, Chief People Officer at OpenExchange - Working in Alignment with Your Values

Kim Blue, Chief People Officer at OpenExchange, has built people functions for ESPN, Microsoft, and Zoom, and now leads talent strategy for a global, virtual team that grew nearly one hundred-fold over two years. Her perspective on values is grounded in operating reality. Values do not work as posters. They work when the company's daily decisions, hiring, performance, recognition, ER, are visibly informed by them.

The wider issue is that values have become a marketing exercise in many organizations. Statements get drafted, posted, and forgotten, while the actual behavior of the company drifts in a different direction. Employees notice the gap immediately, and the cost shows up in trust, engagement, and attrition.

HR leaders who want values to be more than wallpaper have to operationalize them across the talent system. That work is concrete, not philosophical.

Why values matter only when they shape decisions

Values translate into culture through everyday decisions. SHRM's research on values-based leadership makes the case directly; SHRM's coverage of values-based leadership in action walks through the practices that move values from posters to behavior.

For HR leaders, the practical move is to bake values into hiring criteria, performance reviews, recognition programs, and ER processes. AllVoices' employee survey tool gives people leaders a steady read on whether employees experience the stated values in practice.

Values also need a visible values statement that is short, specific, and reinforced through ritual. Vague values produce inconsistent decisions; specific ones make trade-offs easier.

Building values into the operating model

How do you make values part of hiring?

Translate each value into observable behaviors, then build interview questions and rubrics around those behaviors. Train hiring managers to evaluate consistently. Without that translation, values stay abstract and hiring continues to default to gut feel.

HBR's coverage of culture analytics walks through this work; HBR's research on the new analytics of culture shows how organizations can measure values-aligned behavior at scale.

How do you handle a leader who does not live the values?

Address it directly. The fastest way to lose a values strategy is to tolerate senior leaders who behave inconsistently with stated values. Coaching can help when leaders are willing; consequences are required when they are not.

Pair this with anonymous channels for the cases that require courage to raise. AllVoices' anonymous reporting tool creates a path for employees to surface values gaps they cannot raise directly.

What actually works

Tie values to performance reviews

Reviews tell employees what the company actually rewards. If reviews focus only on output, values become decoration. If reviews evaluate how the work was done, alongside what got done, values become real.

Use performance review structures that include both dimensions. Train managers to give specific, behavioral feedback against values, not vague encouragement.

Build values into recognition

Recognition is one of the highest-use tools for reinforcing values. Make sure recognition stories tie back to specific values, not just outcomes. Over time, the storytelling shapes which behaviors feel rewarded.

Pair recognition with clear rewards and recognition design that connects values to compensation, advancement, and visible status.

Use ER to protect the values

The clearest test of a values strategy is what happens when the values are violated. Strong ER work, with consistent investigation, fair outcomes, and visible follow-through, is how the values get protected. Weak ER work signals that the values do not actually matter when it counts.

That dynamic is why ER infrastructure and values work belong in the same conversation. Treating them as separate functions misses the point.

Where Employee Relations Fits

Values cultures still need formal channels for the moments when behavior falls short. AllVoices' employee relations function support helps HR teams handle those moments with consistency. Our HR case management system holds documentation in one place, which is what makes follow-through possible at scale.

How does ER reinforce values at scale?

ER teams catch patterns that values dashboards miss. Repeated cases tied to a single manager, team, or function reveal where the stated values are not yet operating. Sharing those patterns with leadership lets the company act before the gap becomes culture-defining.

That feedback loop is what keeps values from drifting as the company grows.

Frequently Asked Questions About Values Alignment

How specific should values be?

Specific enough that two managers reading the same value would describe similar behaviors. If values can be interpreted in opposing ways, they are not yet specific enough to guide decisions.

How often should values be revisited?

Every few years, or when the company changes significantly through growth, acquisition, or strategy shift. Avoid revising too often; constant change undermines the stability values are meant to provide.

How do you handle employees who disagree with the values?

Listen. Some disagreement signals that the values need refinement; some signals a fit issue. Distinguish between the two with care, and use one-on-ones and anonymous channels to surface honest input.

How do you measure values alignment?

Use survey questions about lived experience of values, exit interview themes, ER case patterns, and observable behavior in performance data. Trend lines over time matter more than any single number.

How do anonymous channels support values work?

They give employees a way to raise values gaps they cannot raise directly. Used consistently, they reinforce that the values matter even when calling them out is uncomfortable.

What's the first step for HR leaders who want to put this into practice?

Start with one team and one measurable outcome. Pick a function where the issue shows up sharply and a leader who is willing to model the new practice. Map the current state honestly: what is happening, who feels it, and what would good look like in ninety days. Share that picture with the team, ask them what is missing from your read, and adjust before launching anything formal. The goal of step one is alignment, not activity.

Once the picture is shared, pick two or three changes you can make inside one quarter. Resist the urge to launch a full program. Run the changes, measure the response with simple pulse questions, and report back. The combination of a focused team, a clear measure, and a public commitment to learn is what turns a good idea into a practice that spreads. HR leaders who try to launch everywhere at once usually end up launching nowhere.

Iterate from there. The teams that succeed treat the first cycle as a prototype, not a rollout. They keep what worked, drop what did not, and write down what they learned. By the time the practice expands to the next group, it has been pressure-tested by people who have a stake in seeing it work. That is the unglamorous work of putting any people-strategy idea into practice, and it is also the work that compounds.

The Bottom Line for HR Leaders

Kim Blue's work across global brands and a fast-growing virtual organization makes a simple, often-ignored point. Values matter only when they shape decisions, and they shape decisions only when HR builds them into hiring, performance, recognition, and ER work. Anything less is wallpaper.

HR leaders who do this work consistently produce organizations where employees and managers align passions, talents, and behavior with the company's stated direction. Skip the work, and the gap between rhetoric and reality erodes trust faster than any benefit can rebuild it.

See how AllVoices supports HR teams turning values into operating practice across the talent system.