The purpose of organizational values is not to decorate the walls or to create new trinkets to hand out to employees. Clear and well-understood values create a framework that enhances personal and organizational performance by encouraging positive organizational behaviors.
The value of values is multifold. First, they improve consistency in decision making. Second, they provide boundaries and set expectations about behavior and what is or is not acceptable. Finally, values serve as guideposts along the journey, reminding people how to behave as they move forward to the future.
Three steps to values
Define – keep it simple and identify the behaviors you want from the members in your organization. Your values should encourage members to interact with people and approach tasks in ways that produce positive outcomes for themselves and the organization.
Align – stated values (what you say) must match operating values (what you do). Many organizations are out of alignment and do not receive the benefits from the values they invested time in defining.
Reinforce – stories and examples are essential to proactively reinforce the meaning of values. If an employee acts in a manner contrary to the intent of the value, the behavior must be addressed. Overlooking violations, even small infractions, begins to blur the true definition of the value and diminishes the value of values. Recognize and reward behaviors that support the values of the organization. You get more of what you celebrate, so intentionally reinforce the demonstration of values.
High performing organizations (and people) know what they believe and incorporate it into everything they do. Everyone, from top to bottom, understands and acts according to these core values.
If you do not have well defined, operational values, make the time to define them. If you have values in place, do an annual assessment to determine whether they are producing the outcomes you intended.
You can compare your ideal culture to your current culture to see where your values gaps are and identify strategies to address those gaps.
When to use
- When you want values to improve consistency in decision making across your organization.
- When you need clear behavioral boundaries and expectations for what is or is not acceptable.
- When you are defining values and the specific behaviors you want from members of your organization.
- When there is a gap between stated values and operating values and you need to realign them.
- When you want to recognize and reinforce behaviors that support your organization’s values.
TL;DR
- Values improve consistency in decision making and set behavioral boundaries.
- Define values in simple, behavioral terms so people know how to act.
- Align stated values with operating values so what you say matches what you do.
- Reinforce values through stories, examples, and recognition of aligned behaviors.
- Regularly assess whether your values are producing the outcomes you intend.