The Value of Values
The power of agreed-upon organizational behaviors.
Values are an agreed-upon set of acceptable organizational behaviors. Sounds simple enough. But, like most things, if it were simple, everyone would do it.
Having gone through value creation and ongoing implementation processes, enforcing values are the most impactful element you can add to any organization. Forget raises, stock options, bonuses, and promotions. All those are great, but none will impact culture like a cohesive team in lockstep around values.
Values are important because they remove subjective interpretations of situations, behaviors, and annoyances. They also empower your team. Think about that for a moment. Instead of relying solely on management and HR to monitor and enforce behaviors, the frontline staff is now fully equipped and empowered to protect their work environment. With values, team members can have healthy discussions around what is acceptable and what isn't, with the conversation never veering into "personal opinion" territory.
The values implementation process takes time and buy-in from everyone. And because it takes so much collective work, a sense of pride and protectionism occurs. It's like building a relationship; everyone sees how much time and effort went into making it successful, and no one wants to see it damaged.
So, how do you get your team on board with values? A great way to start is with a values/behaviors exercise. It's simple yet effective. Have your team break up into groups, giving them a list of your values. Next, have them write the corresponding behaviors that showcase or highlight each value. Finally, have everyone read off their behaviors while you write them down on the whiteboard. At this point, the entire organization, on its own, has now come up with acceptable behaviors for each value.
Values in Practice
During those uncomfortable disciplinary conversations, values shine. Consider the stark difference between the following discussions:
"Jim, I'm getting complaints about your comments from your team members. They're afraid to say anything; it's causing a lot of friction and needs to stop. I don't want to have this conversation again."
"Jim, your recent behavior (be specific) is in direct violation of the following values (list all violated values). We will discuss how you're breaking these values and the effect on the team. Then, we will build an improvement plan, including specific behaviors and actions you will focus on for improvement. You will take ownership of the plan, and we will meet routinely over the coming weeks to track your progress."
See the difference? Option one is entirely subjective and void of anything concrete. Option two is based on an unbiased, non-partial arbiter--the values. It also includes ownership on the part of the employee. They are now responsible for building an improvement plan addressing each violated value. This also highlights the ancillary value of values: the ability to create an improvement plan based on measurable behaviors. Since the organization has created a list of approved behaviors, you now have an unbiased, objective standard to gauge employee improvement.
Empower your Leaders
The values implementation process takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight; if there is a secret to the process, it's the relentless promotion of values by leadership at every opportunity. Buy-in from your leadership team is imperative. They will be your voice in your absence. They will champion values with their teams, managers, and frontline. Based on my experience, a full 18 months into the values implementation process, we're just now starting to see the fruit. Stick with it.
Recognize your Rockstars
Another critical aspect of a successful values roll-out is ensuring you call out and highlight those showcasing your values. Nothing promotes and encourages like public recognition from leadership. If you have a team member consistently living out a particular value, ensure everyone in the organization knows it. Doing so shows that you're serious about values. It shows that leadership is paying attention. And it encourages your team to move forward. Your values rockstars will be your best ambassadors.
Make it Visible
Lastly, showcase your new values loudly and proudly. Posters, stickers, notes, anything you can print your values on, do so. We have multiple values posters throughout our locations, including a giant wall poster at our corporate office. As human beings, repetition is the key to retention. We need to see something repeatedly before it cements itself into our brains. Your values posters and banners are also a great way to tie your values into your branding; have fun with it, and make it enjoyable to look at. This is too important to be boring.
Values are the single most significant catalyst for change inside your organization. If you've been putting it off, start tomorrow. Meet with your leadership team or board of directors, and begin identifying your core values. Base them on your mission and vision, the DNA of the organization, and how you quantify success. Imagine a work environment free from employee drama, needless conflicts, and time-consuming moments of minor subjective altercations. It's possible. And it all starts with values.