Nearly every organization I've ever encountered has an articulated set of values. Some are downright inspiring.
The questions are:
Do they matter?
Do they really mean something?
Do they deliver value of any kind?
Or are they just pretty words, framed up on the entry wall and the web site?
In her Harvard Business Review blog post on the topic of corporate values, Rosabeth Moss Kanter lays out the ten essential ingrediants for making values, well, valuable ... in ways that improve accountability, collaboration and initiative within an organization. Her list is terrific; I found myself particularly drawn to Ingrediant #7:
7. As they become internalized by employees, values and principles can substitute for more impersonal or coercive rules. They can serve as a control system against violations, excesses, or veering off course.
I have seen the truth in this first hand. Organizations that truly live their values, even (and, perhaps, especially) when they force tough trade-offs and difficult decisions, can ultimately rely on them as a powerful system of internal controls.
The trick, of course, is in the willingness to walk the value talk. For many organizations, institutionalizing values really comes down to performance management. It means a commitment by leadership to deal - quickly and decisively - with value-busting behavior. Even (and, in fact, especially) when the value-breaker is a top producer, a long-tenured employee or a member of senior management.
The inability to do so speaks volumes, volumes that way overpower any framed message in the foyer. Value statements that are merely (in Moss Kanter's words) "passive decorations" are not only unlikely to deliver value, they are powerful underminers of trust. They unwittingly emit an aura of dishonesty and double standards. They say "we speak one thing, but do another."
As employers emerge from the recession, the time may be ripe to revisit corporate values to ensure that the words still resonate and that they represent concepts that your leaders are willing to stand up for, no matter what. Moss Kanter's list of essential ingrediants provides you with a great guide for that conversation - and for putting that confirmed set of values to work for you.
I leave you with the immortal words of that great organizational thinker, Elvis Presley:
Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave' em all over everything you do.
Great post, Ann. This topic of making your values valuable -- central to how everyone in the organization approaches their work -- is the basis for all of our strategic employee recognition recommendations. One of the greatest initial challenges with company values is taking them off that plaque on the wall and making them real in the hearts and minds of the employees so that their daily work is clearly driven by the values. That's why we so strongly advocate structuring a recognition program so that employees are encouraged to recognize each other (as well as top down) for demonstrating the company values in contribution to achieving group/team/company objectives.
Such positive reinforcement encourages the employee to repeat those desired behaviors/actions and makes colleagues more adept at seeing those values in action -- truly making them real in every day work.
What happens if you don't? Deviant behavior. This approach ensures employees who, for example, increase productivity but do so by harming the environment will not be rewarded for their efforts. Values-based recognition is the key to ensuring employees display the right behaviors in achieving the company goals.
I wrote more on this topic (including research from Singapore Management University on deviant behavior in the workplace) here:
http://globoforce.blogspot.com/2009/07/self-esteem-sabotage-and-psychic-income.html
Posted by: Derek Irvine, Globoforce | June 20, 2010 at 08:20 AM
Derek:
Thanks for the comment - and for pointing us to the SMU research. Interesting look at the role that self-esteem plays in workplace behavior.
Posted by: Ann Bares | June 21, 2010 at 02:14 PM
Great post Ann! I think the most important thing you hit on is that for values to matter they must be applied equally at all levels of the organization. There is nothing more frustrating to employees than seeing inconsistency in how values and norms are applied!
I've shared you post with my readers in my weekly Rainmaker top five blog picks of the week (found here: http://www.maximizepossibility.com/employee_retention/2010/06/the-rainmaker.html) to challenge them to question if their values are actually adding value.
Be well!
Posted by: Chris Young | June 21, 2010 at 08:07 PM
Thanks, Chris - always cool to be part of the Rainmaker top five!
Posted by: Ann Bares | June 22, 2010 at 07:31 AM
excellent post! i was inspired on your post. thanks! i'm gonna share this with my friends too. i'm sure they gonna love this too. :D
Posted by: Nursing apparel | June 24, 2010 at 10:42 PM