Values matter. They have helped provide purpose and unity to human societies as long as societies have existed.
No surprise therefore that corporations and organizations of all types have adopted “Value statements” of various kinds, with varying effectiveness.
Long before values became popular in business, others like religious organizations, schools and social organizations adopted and tried to instill “values” into their members.
One example is the Scouts – founded in 1907 with very idealistic aims, it remains today a large global movement. The original Scouts “values” could be made into a little poem to make them easier to remember.
“Trusty, Loyal, Helpful,
Brotherly, Courteous, Kind,
Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty,
and Clean in body and mind…”
Many of these could easily feature in modern corporate value statements. (not all though – even the Scouts updated some…)
The point of the “Scout Laws” wasn’t to publicly flag the virtues of the organization, but to ensure that Scouts tried to incorporate them into their daily lives.
That’s a different path to the one taken by many organizations which have “Values”
Our call over the coming 5 articles is to those leaders who are in Organizations that have stated “values”.
Our call is simple – use them.
Use Values as a Strategic Tool not just a motherhood statement
Make them relevant in your people’s daily lives.
There can be much to be cynical about the adoption of Values by corporations – famously Enron had “Respect, Integrity, Communication and Excellence” as their 4 Values yet ended in the biggest Corporate fraud scandal of the last 40 years.
Detecting or commenting on hypocrisy isn’t our point here. Nor is corporate misbehavior or fraud.
Leveraging the values you have can be an effective improvement tool.
How? In 2 important ways
1. Values promote the right behaviors
The good news is that most company values are positive, well intended and actually useful when applied.
For localized organizations they frequently reflect local culture. (Global businesses have another challenge adopting to local understanding – a whole story in itself)
Good leaders realize that and adopt & interpret them regularly with their own teams.
Well crafted Values Statements contain the seeds of success if applied. At BalancedKaizen we have studied over 100 top corporations’ Value statements and can report that there is great consistency between most major companies.
“Use Values as a Strategic Tool not just a motherhood statement…”
Over 80% of these top global companies “values” can be grouped into 7 basic areas as follows: (in order of popularity)
1. Energy & Passion
2. Risk taking & High Performance
3. Integrity
4. Teamwork
5. Respect for People
6. Sustainability & Environment
7. Customer
We think this is a nice “Balance” actually…
2. Values are an opportunity to connect on a different level.
Businesses are performance driven so performance becomes a common discussion topic. Unsurprisingly, such discussions aren’t always engaging. Performance can be a divisive topic.
Values, on the other hands, are longer term & more unifying. We can easily disagree on whether a target is achievable or not, but not on whether Integrity is important…
Connection to aspirational values adds a fresh perspective to leaders’ communication within their teams.
So why not use them?
More to come…
Questions or direct discussion? Email balancedkaizen@gmail.com
Image credit: Wikipedia
Absolutely spot on! People in organisations talk about them (values) a lot. But the key is how you live them and use them to guide your actions and communications on a daily basis. IMO, this is the most important part of a good strategy.
Thanks Bill. Values aren’t real unless you can see them in lived behaviors. Especially leaders’ behaviors.