Companies preach about their core values but fail to live up to them. How can companies live up to their core values in everything they do from recruiting, onboarding, training, terminating, etc...
How do you establish your core values and embedded them in every process?
The first process is to be clear about exactly what it is you value and why you value it. Most companies – write a values statement because they think they have to. But they spend very little time actually thinking about what those values mean to them and how they manifest them in their personal lives. Spending the time to really be clear about what the values are and why you want those to be your values – ie: how do they manifest in interpersonal relationships – is the first step.
The 2nd step is to build metrics to measure the implementation of those values in your organization and then to reward people – who actually manage to embody those values. For instance – if you value kindness, keep a log of kind acts done by employees and then give the people who do the most kind deeds – a raise, or a bonus. Quarterly survey staff and ask them – who was the nicest to you and the most helpful among your colleagues – and quarterly – use that information – to promote, give raises to and bonuses to people who are kind. If you don’t measure and reward the behavior you want – you aren’t going to promote that actually behavior in your company.
The third thing to do is to invoke the values in every single discussion in the organization. Talking about strategy – ask the question – how does this proposal advance our core values and our business needs simultaneously. If it doesn’t – ask the team to rethink how whatever it is could be done while embeddeding the values into the work. The more you openly talk about the values, the more it will be a habit and the more your employees will understand – these values aren’t just words on paper. They are expected to integrate them in all decision and planning. If you don’t ask about them in the context of the actual work – your employees will naturally assume, they aren’t actually important.
What are your core values? What does it look like and how does it change the way companies do things?
One of my core values is – compassion, for myself and others. I am constantly asking myself – am I treating this other person with dignity and compassion? Or not. If I am in conflict with someone, I think – compassionately about them. I humanize them and design an approach that treats them with dignity and compassion. It’s part of everything I do.
How can companies change the way they do things?
This is a behavioral question for me. In order to create this change – they have to be intentional about what behaviors they reward and emphasize. And which ones aren’t acceptable. Many companies and managers want civil dignified people – but they reward cutthroat individuals. One of my friends once said – the culture of any organization is determined by the last person promoted. Be intentional about promoting people who embody the values you claim to care about. Let the people who aren’t on board with the values – go. Over time, the values will become embedded and a lived reality for your staff.
One last thing. When we talk about values – we are talking about how we are treating other human beings. Our colleagues, our customers, our vendors. Everyone. The point of our values is to treat people well and with dignity and compassion and to create communities where everyone can thrive. If this isn’t your goal – you probably aren’t talking about values/ethics. How we treat people – and what we tolerate our managers doing to people- dictates our corporate culture. If you want a nice place to work – you have to hire nice people and get rid of the not nice ones.
Want to learn more about how to do this? Take one of my classes. All my courses integrate discussions of core values with information on how to actively apply them to your work.
https://humanistlearning.com/programsoffered/Whether the problem is leadership/management -
https://humanistlearning.com/principles-of-humanistic-leadership/
How to de-escalate conflicts -
https://humanistlearning.com/de-escalate-conflicts/
Or how to stop bullying in the workplace -
https://humanistlearning.com/workplacebullying1/
Being clear about your values and actively invoking them to improve your own behavior and the behavior of others - will help you be the person you want to be and be more successful as well.
