The intention for this section of your business plan is to document the behaviours and attitudes that form the basis of your corporate culture. These are the “ Rules of the Village”, that everyone follows. Once these rules are clearly understood and supported throughout the company, all employees have a reference point to make independent decisions.

Your company values are another foundation piece of your business plan. All companies and organizations have a set of values, but they are rarely written in a format that is clear and easy for everyone to understand.

The most common flaw with Values Statements in business plans is they are too general, or ambiguous, and, therefore, open to wide interpretation.

To help make your values clear, we suggest for every value statement you make, you add  3-5 clarifying points, to move from the general to specific.

“Less is more” is a good rule of thumb here. 3 or 4 clearly articulated values are far more useful than a page of words that few people understand and therefore pay little attention to.

Now take a crack at writing a Values Page for your company- Again don’t be too concerned about getting it right the first time. This too will get clearer each time you review and update you plan