HOW DO BUSINESSES GET THEIR STAFF TO ‘LIVE’ THE COMPANY VALUES?
Many, many years ago I did some contract work for Churchill Insurance.
Upon entering their Bromley Head Office for the first time, I was presented with a massive sign that proudly set out Churchill’s company values.
Although we’re going back well over a decade, from memory, the first value was ‘Courage’.
The next was ‘Honesty’.
The next was ‘Urgency’.
The next might have been ‘Realism’.
Can’t remember the next one, but I’m certain it would have begun with a letter ‘C’.
Because the most memorable thing about the list of Churchill Company Values was that each of the initial letters spelled out the word: C.H.U.R.C.H.I.L.L.
So far, so contrived.
But in my short time at the company I learned something about how those values were embedded in the company culture that I have only very rarely seen anywhere else.
And that was this: when staff had their six-monthly appraisal, as a part of the review process they had to detail an example when they had behaved with ‘Courage’.
And also detail a different example of when they’d acted with ‘Honesty’.
And another of acting with…well, you get the gist.
Now having to evidence – what? – nine different instances when you’ve acted in compliance with nine different company values over a period of six months is quite an ask for any staff member.
I have no idea whether Churchill appraisals still work this way: maybe it all got a little too complicated?
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But the concept of embedding the company values in the company appraisal process made a lot of sense to me.
To my mind, if a firm is going to proscribe that its staff align to a series of company values, then asking them to formally evidence they’re doing it is a not unreasonable way to encourage them to live those values.
Otherwise, why have the values in the first place?
These days I work for myself, but I am curious to know how other companies embed their values in their staff.
Does anyone embed their values in their appraisal process it like Churchill?
Do companies coach their staff in how to behave in line with the company values?
Does anyone do it really effectively?
Or are most company values – like most brand values – a well-meaning if anodyne wish list dreamt up by someone in an ivory tower, with absolutely no grounding in what goes on in the real world, or any meaningful attempt to embed them?
Curious to know your stories, both about how company values are decided, and how you have seen them embedded.
I once worked for a firm where "We are honest with each other" was part of the official company mantra - yet I have never worked in such a viper's nest of political shenanigans.
What's your experience?
All feedback is a gift.
Simon Hayhurst
January 2023
Picture credit: Photo by Diogo Nunes on Unsplash?
Help you declutter your strategy | Contrarian strategist | Strategy consultant and board member. Guiding startups and mature companies to better strategic decisions.
1 年It is a tricky question. Any company has its corporate values, even if they haven't been put on paper. And these are CEO's (or founder's) values. The leaders set these values subconsciously, supporting and endorsing some kinds of behaviour and frowning upon others. And their (subconsciously) hire people who share these values and get rid of those who don't. Every organization is a mental projection of its leader. But when somebody says: "Hey, guys, we need corporate values," leaders start thinking about them. And that's when wishful thinking starts. This "company values" exercise makes sense only when leaders see that their organization's values don't help the company develop (or even prevent it from development). But this means they need to start with themselves and work on their own values. They may have a genius as a HRD, but HRD can do little if leaders' behaviour doesn't match values they put on paper.
creative strategy, innovation, experience, brand and culture
1 年Simon I thought you might be interested in this extract from a document I put together for a mentoree. ·??????What are values for? If they are to shape behaviour, why not specify the behaviour itself? ·??????How many values should you have? Why? ·??????What are the criteria for selecting them? ·??????Is it useful to specify and advocate a value that merely seeks to prevent unacceptable behaviour? (Anyone not “honest” should get fired, why waste the value slot?) ·??????Most values of most companies are entirely generic. As culture is one of the most important and uncopiable components of brand, why select values that drive convergence? ·??????As people interpret values in their own way, they always don’t always drive alignment. Are you going ‘game play the edge cases’ so people actually understand and align with a specific behaviour in a specific situations? ·??????Making values an element of appraisals the very least you can do? Brainstorm another 20 ways of getting people to understand and align with them. ·??????Brand, HR, compliance, the manager, peers etc all seek to shape behaviour. Are you going to let each individual resolve all these different vectors or are you going to ‘get joined up’? Regards
Director at Hayhurst Consultancy - B2B Research
1 年On a related subject, Timmie de Pooter's excellent book "Bring Yourself To Work" has a chapter on how leaders can embed positive behaviours in their teams. Based on the work of Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall it's not a set of values, as such, but does give a framework for how senior managers can understand and then embed a positive attitude in the people around them.
Director of Marketing at Maverick Communications International | Speaker
1 年I think it's essential to make company values part of the employee experience, otherwise its a complete waste of time. I like your example on using company values in regular performance appraisal, the hiring process or criteria for rewards, etc. Have I seen this effort of application often in companies I have worked for? Unfortunately not. Do the work in making the values meaningful or don't do them at all, I would say.
Humour makes people more likely to buy: I help brands use it profitably | Creator of HumourScope? | International keynote speaker
1 年Early in my career I worked at Visa. I remember my manager once saying something to me that might have the gem of truth in it. "Company values can be summed up in how someone talks about Visa in the pub on a Friday night." It's often when someone is outside of the work environment —?with, ahem, the influence of alcohol —?that values truly come to light.