---
title: "Set your cultural foundation"
description: "Enter your values and levels so every framework and review is anchored to how your company works."
url: "https://sageo.ai/help/getting-started/cultural-foundation"
updated: "2026-09-23"
source: "Sageo (sageo.ai)"
---


# Set your cultural foundation

_Enter your values and levels so every framework and review is anchored to how your company works._

Your cultural foundation is the base that every framework and review in Sageo inherits. You set it once, in Settings, and it takes about ten minutes.

## Before you start

- Admin access to your Sageo workspace
- A short list of your company values
- Your level structure (the designations you use)

## Steps

1. Open Settings from the sidebar, under the Organization section.
2. Under Company Values, add one value per line as "Name: optional description", for example "Ownership: we act on behalf of the whole company". Then choose Save Values.
3. Sageo turns your values into the Cultural Foundation, a common behavioral standard shown on every framework. Levels are also set here, once, for the whole workspace.

> **Tip**
>
> Keep values concrete. "Bias for action: speed matters, most decisions are reversible" generates a sharper framework than a one-word value.

## Related

- [Import your people with one CSV](https://sageo.ai/help/getting-started/import-people)
- [Generate a competency framework](https://sageo.ai/help/frameworks/generate-a-framework)