Cultural values are commonly held beliefs about the relative importance of an outcome. A cultural value is different from individual values or an average score for individual attitudes. With a cultural value people have come to agree about the priority being given to an outcome.

The first step in working with cultural values is to identify what values will be important to project success. For example, some technology companies hope to make speed of innovation a shared cultural value. Getting a new product to market would become a high priority for all. In successful professional organizations such as law firms client retention could be identified as a desirable shared value. A business developing a wellness initiative might seek to make work more fun by adopting a shared value for healthy pleasures. A more traditional health promotion program might seek to make risk reduction through regular physical activity, healthy eating and medical self-care cultural priorities.