The experience can be described as: “We build our strength on functional knowledge and being recognized as the authority on what we do.” A similar value is “Knowledge”:
“Our business depends on the skills and knowledge of our people and we are committed to developing the skills and capabilities of all our people.”
An interesting example is this:
“Global experience – local knowledge” (1) this is very suitable for a research company.
This statement is very interesting for more reasons, but mostly because it directly supports this and other additional (customer-driven) value. First, it communicates the lessons learned that global expertise (what you sell) cannot do without local knowledge (what you buy), due to cultural differences operating locally. This knowledge is communicated directly to the visitor (potential customers) of the site, which makes it very exemplary. An excellent example where the values are believable and make sense!
Experience is a corporate value that can be used without problems. The advantage of this value is that it applies to both individuals and an entire organization, which makes it very useful in the statement of values.
When to use it: The research company above is a good example. Knowledge-based companies value knowledge and experience, which is a success factor for your business.
It is also a very simple value. It can almost be measured. Knowledge is hard to measure, but related topics like: learning, studying, and being open to new ideas and information are tangible items to focus on in the hiring process.
Not all companies will equally value the element of experience and knowledge. It must fit a purpose.
Values need a balance. Experience is just one of the values in the statement and its focus is on products and services, while a company’s business is successful when these can be sold to customers. Customer orientation is therefore a suitable complement, although it is not a very precise value. It would be more appropriate to combine it with: “practical” or similar values where the importance of knowledge or experience being useless without a clear purpose is emphasized. Otherwise, you’ll just pile it up in a silo and no one will really benefit from it.
Another complementary value is required to foster teamwork, because knowledge-based companies have an implicit dilemma of being bogged down by too much individual intelligence, but not enough organizational intelligence. Think about this when you use or recreate your values statement.