Ah, company values. If you’ve seen any of my video vignettes on taking apart fluffy culture cliches, you know this is one that’s at the top of the list. Right up there with culture. Blech.
Often when we think of Values, we think of words or phrases that we’re told are meaningful to the company but that the majority of employees couldn’t rattle off in the face of low or high stakes – including the leadership. They’re things that are supposed to be important but usually fall by the wayside when life-changing situations arise. Is this really what values are?
I think this is what they have become in many places. However, the whole purpose of establishing Values for a company is to give ALL the employees a common language with which to addresses successes and failures within the context of the WHY of the company.
Why does it matter if a company has a common language for this? Well, different departments prioritize different things. Sales prioritizes getting new accounts at any cost, but Operations looks at brass tax and the real cost (labor, materials, time, etc.) of getting those accounts launched. Each department has a critical role to play in maintaining the health of the company – but if they cannot agree on the WHY and the HOW, their attitudes, approaches, and short-term goals will diverge and nothing will ever really get done.
The other fantastic thing that a set of Values does is make it very clear what the standard of work is at a company. Every day you walk into a company with a clear set of Values, you agree just by walking in the doors that you are going to adhere to and uphold the standard put forth in the Values. This is powerful! Why are you doing that just by walking in the door? Well, you agreed to this when you took the job. This agreement between a company and its employees is very powerful and it acts as a safeguard and a boundary for the people and the company. In an age where employees are used to being taken advantage of and are looking for more, this is a very important boundary to establish in order to create an environment where everyone can do their best work.
Finally, if you have people working together, you do best when they are unified towards one goal. If this is not the case, you are constantly corralling them and trying to convince them that your goal is a better goal, and that is a fruitless endeavor. But if you give people this platform of agreement and everyone is committed to upholding it, you can identify a common goal and work toward it.
Activity: Consider your own experience with the concept of Values, whether in your personal life or in a business environment. Do you know your Values? Do they resonate with the Values of the business? How does the business go about upholding the common language that Values provide? How might you create a culture around yourself that upholds your Values or the company Values if they exist?