 May 7, 2018
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How to Make Values Real: Not Just a Plaque on the Wall
 Many organizations like to point to their values as an important, integral part of their culture, but in reality they are just dusty plaques on the wall or worse. In fact, people often make Dilbert-style jokes about core values. Dilbert creator, Scott Adams, actually has a myriad of comic strips devoted to core values, all reflecting both employees’ and leaders’ disregard or ignorance of their company core values.
In all of our work — whether on leadership, management skills, or diversity and inclusion — we always talk about values, yet it can be difficult to do so if people believe they are empty statements. Ideally, an organization’s core values explicitly define how people will behave with each other and with customers. When values succeed, people’s daily behaviors will embody the organization’s core values. When they fall flat, to quote Patrick M. Lencioni writing in the Harvard Business Review: “Empty values statements create cynical and dispirited employees, alienate customers, and undermine managerial credibility.” https://hbr.org/2002/07/make-your-values-mean-something
“Ideally, an organization’s core values explicitly define
how people will behave with each other and with customers.”
Inculcating core values increases engagement: 88% of employees who know their core values say that they are engaged, compared to 54% of respondents who say they did not know any of their company’s core values. In addition, 79% of employees say recognition tied to core values gave them a stronger sense of company goals and objectives.
In order to make values real, follow these tips:
- Make sure that leaders “walk the talk”. If executives habitually engage in behavior that violates your core values, nothing else you do as an organization will make a difference.
- Recall the three most challenging situations your organization (or group) has faced in the last five years and what you did in response. Did your values help make sense of what was done and why? If not, you may need to reexamine what is really valued in your organization. Using values as a framework to guide decisions can help your people understand why decisions are being made.
- The key to bringing values front and center is to convert them into specific, behavioral examples. Robin Kane, Vice President of Human Resources for the Family Dining Division of American Blue Ribbon Holdings, for example, encourages leaders to have employees recount specific examples in staff meetings of someone who modeled the organization’s values. These stories of real behavior from the front lines make values tangible.
- Stories also help recognize employees who exemplify those company values. You can recognize them in other ways also by, for example, using these stories in your newsletters or with recognition bonuses.
- Some companies have “Core Value Employee of the Month” where every member of the organization or team votes for the person they view as endorsing the core values of the company.
- Last, but not least, it may seem counterintuitive, but if the company values seem too far from team values, it might be time to redefine company values. Aetna, for example, successfully allowed employees to provide feedback that analyzes current company values, and then used the feedback to update their values statement.
 Did You Know
All of our presentation and consulting project emphasize your values.
Call or write me to discuss your options at: 303-216-1020 or Lynne@workplacesthatwork.com
Learn more about our training offerings and check out our team members at:
Be sure to read Lynne’s book “We Need to Talk” Tough Conversations with Your Employee and learn how to tackle any topic with sensitivity and smarts.
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