Renfrewshire Council

Our values

More than 4,000 voices including our staff, local residents, partners, young people and community groups helped identify the values most important to us all that describe our promise to our communities, staff and partners and what people can expect of us.

Our values 


These values have been formally adopted by Renfrewshire Council and will guide how we deliver services and make decisions every day. 

  • We are fair. We treat each other and everyone we deal with respectfully and work hard to build trust in Renfrewshire Council. 
  • We are helpful. We care about getting things right and are always approachable.   
  • We are great collaborators. We work as one team and with people who care about this place.   
  • We value learning to help us innovate, improve and deliver better services.

Living our values

Our values are for everyone working here at Renfrewshire Council, no matter what our role. They shape how we interact with the people we work with, our local communities, partners and all of our stakeholders.

We are fair. We will:   

  • Be honest at all times - doing what we say we will do   
  • Be empathetic and non-judgemental   
  • Uphold the dignity of those going through life's most difficult experiences   
  • Support each other and be prepared to challenge behaviour that is out of step with these values   
  • Value everyone's wellbeing   

We are helpful. We will:   

  • Be open, friendly and kind   
  • Do our best every day - listen to feedback and ideas   
  • Take ownership of challenges, respond quickly and communicate clearly   
  • Ensure we use resources and money wisely   
  • Say sorry and fix things when they go wrong   

We are great collaborators. We will:   

  • Be positive, passionate ambassadors for Renfrewshire   
  • Recognise that we do not have all the right answers and work with others to find the best solutions   
  • Be involved - get to know people and respect their knowledge and experience   
  • Protect our environment for future generations   
  • Say thank you - recognise and appreciate the contribution of others      

We value learning. We will:   

  • Be open-minded - prepared to try new ways of working and engage in different conversations   
  • Be curious - seek out information for ourselves   
  • Take responsibility for our own learning and development and share learning with each other   
  • Embrace opportunities to adopt new tools and technologies   

Nominate a colleague for living our values

Let a colleague know they are making a difference by nominating them for living our values. It's a great way to say thank you for demonstrating the behaviours we all agreed were important to us when we developed our values together."
Alan Russell, Chief Executive

To nominate an individual or team, please complete this values nomination form.

Once your nomination is received, a member of our communications team will be in touch with you to find out more. You will also receive a 'Living our Values' card (either online or in print) to send to your colleagues as part of their recognition.

Living our values staff stories

We've been sharing stories about our colleagues who have been nominated for living our values.

Two women standing on a stage looking to camera with the auditorium in the background
Natalie Thorne (right)

Collaboration unlocks success in Paisley

Natalie Thorne and team fit-out Paisley Town Hall and Learning and Cultural Hub with our values.

Read Natalie's story

Woman sitting at table smiling to camera
Lisa Carrigan

Recognising the human impact of living our values

Lisa Carrigan's extraordinary efforts transform a tenant's life

Read Lisa's story

Read more stories about colleagues recognised for living our values in Staff Stories.

How we developed our values  

In 2019, we started a conversation with our staff and communities to develop the values that support the kind of organisation we all want Renfrewshire Council to be. Core values that will shape and reflect how we work together, how local people view the council and importantly—how we act and support each other.  

The response was brilliant. We held 33 workshops with staff from across the council together with an online staff survey, elected member interviews, an online 'Our Renfrewshire' community survey, and focus groups with young people and our third sector partners.   

We analysed all of the information to find commonality in those values most important to both our staff and local residents and produced 10 values.  These were: Respect/Respectful, Help/Helpful, Honest/Honesty, Fair/Fairness, Support/Supportive, Improved, Efficiency, Responsive, Trust, Progressive and Innovative. A further two - Collaboration and Kindness - were added after engagement with community groups and our Corporate Management Team.   

Four values statements and supporting behaviours were developed to represent everything that you have told us.  These values have been formally adopted by Renfrewshire Council and are visible in how we deliver services and make decisions every day. 

Our commitment 

We want to be a collaborative, learning organisation which has redefined its relationship with communities, partners and businesses to achieve even more together. Our Values are central to our People Strategy. 

We will help our services bring these values to life and you'll have plenty of opportunities to see, hear and experience our shared values. 

A package of resources and support will help you link our values to your own role and understand how they can be applied in your day-to-day work. From how we make decisions, interact with our customers and service users and how we work with each other.

Everyone will complete their own values action plan which asks - how will you commit to living our values?   

To help and support our staff to live these values, we will:   

  • Review all of our people policies so that our values are a part of your working life throughout your journey with the council    
  • Work with managers and leaders to develop role model behaviours, with key objectives to help you enable your teams to live the values    
  • Provide you with a range of resources and support to help you link our values to your own role, and live them every day    
  • Help you develop a values action plan around working with each other, making decisions and interacting with customers and service-users   
  • Make decisions and manage our people according to these values and challenge and be prepared to be challenged when behaviours don't match them   
  • Recognise, celebrate and share the stories of our people living the values   
  • Ensure you have lots of opportunities to see, hear and experience our shared values.