If you go at it cold, with a blank sheet of paper, figuring out your company’s core values can be a frustrating and fruitless process. I’ve seen firms spend tens of thousands of dollars and several months going through a laborious discovery process, only to come away with a generic list that misses the uniqueness and power of the existing culture. Alternatively, there is a way to get at your core values that’s fun and amazingly fast. It’s an approach first suggested by Jim Collins.

Gather a representative group of employees or managers from across the company, or if you’d rather, your senior management team. Ask the group to pretend there’s a team of Martian anthropologists studying American business, and they’re trying to understand your company’s corporate culture. Each individual is to come up with the names of five employees–ones who aren’t in the room–to send to Mars. (Note: If you’re a start-up and your list has to be the four or five initial founders or employees, that’s fine.) The Martians don’t speak English, and they don’t know what a good PowerPoint presentation is, so whatever the Martians learn will have to come through observation. Given that, which five employees would best convey the good things about your company, just through their actions? Don’t choose people because they know how to present well, nor eliminate someone because I mentioned this. Don’t over-engineer by choosing a balanced team that represents each function in the business. Just choose the five who would best give the Martians a sense of what’s good about the economy.

When each individual has five names–no more, no less–go around the room and determine the top three vote getters. Important side note: Don’t let these lists out of the room. This is simply a thought experiment and the conversations around the three individuals chosen should stay in the room. Starting with the employee who received the most mentions, initiate a conversation about these people. Who are they? How do they go about their work? What would customers or co-workers say about them? Why are they important or valuable to the organization? Another approach is to go the opposite direction–ask people to recall employees who didn’t work out and brainstorm about what went wrong.

As you jot down what’s being said, you’ll begin to see themes and patterns emerge. Don’t be surprised if the words that pop up are less polished or humanitarian than you have hoped, and for Pete’s sake, don’t squelch those who utter them! Your goal is to know what the real core values of your organization are, not the Chamber of Commerce’s notion of what they should be.

If you’re looking to learn new methods on how to manage and grow your business, consider learning the Rockefeller Habits to put you on the right track.

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