Organizational Values
Naotake Momiyama
Versatile HR Executive for Business Success / Global HR Visionary with Record-Breaking Results in Leading Diverse Multinational Companies / Passionate about Developing HR Professionals and Business Leaders / Publisher
This newsletter aims to be helpful by sharing my experiences with HR professionals who want to contribute to business success and leaders who want to manage their organizations more effectively.
To deepen understanding of the organization, I use the following figure. Last time, we discussed Long-Term Goals in detail. This time, I want to focus on Values.
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Why Values?
I define Values as "what people working in the organization cherish," and further, "what people working in the organization adhere to."
While Reason to Exist determines why an organization exists and what it ultimately wants to achieve, Long-Term Goals clarify the organization's immediate objectives. In other words, they establish the direction and milestones to aim for.
Compliance with regulations is an essential prerequisite for organizations. However, reaching that milestone becomes important for companies, so at first glance, the pathway may not seem as crucial once the goal is achieved.
I understand Values as providing a framework for this pathway. They become criteria for various decisions, big and small, and guide daily actions.
In essence, Values are a crucial element that defines the organization's identity and becomes one of the sources of its culture.
When Values are clearly defined and ingrained in every employee, they become important guides for determining how to act in certain situations and what actions to avoid.
Furthermore, in a complex and rapidly changing business environment where precedents may not apply, Values serve as criteria for decision-making.
Values serve as the basis for daily actions and decision-making, enabling things to be done more efficiently and providing a cornerstone in times of trouble.
So far, I have discussed why Values are important. Now, how do we go about creating them? In the next section, I would like to write about how to create Values.
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How to Create Values
Values are what an organization cherishes, serving as criteria for daily actions and decision-making, and becoming a cornerstone. They are a significant factor in defining the organization's identity and have a significant impact on organizational culture.
Therefore, they are strongly related to the organization's Reason to Exist. By unraveling why the organization needs to exist rather than other organizations, we can find clues about what the organization values.
For example, we delve into why the founder started their own business instead of working for another company. We seek to understand the founder's passion, specifics of their actions, and what they did or did not do, including facts and using imagination from various perspectives.
Moreover, organizations with some history may have experienced significant turning points. Understanding these situations and why certain decisions were made among other options, as well as why other options were not chosen, enhances understanding.
Additionally, there are often symbolic episodes when discussing an organization. By digging into these episodes, we contemplate why certain actions were taken instead of others.
By deepening the understanding of the past, we grasp the organization's essence and what it commonly shares as a whole.
Then, considering the current and future business environment, we evaluate whether the Values can be directly applied or if they need adjustments. In my experience, since the business environment is ever-changing, it's better to modify Values from a perspective that transcends not only the current but also the future business environment, rather than just focusing on the present or near-future perspective.
When creating Values, various perspectives emerge, and often, their number increases. However, from a practical perspective, fewer Values are considered more suitable for daily use. Too many Values make understanding and remembering difficult and decrease the likelihood of implementation. Empirically, I found that keeping them to five or fewer makes them more manageable. Therefore, it's effective to limit them to five from the outset when formulating Values.
Even if excellent Values are created, they lose their significance if they are not utilized in decision-making and daily actions. In the next section, I will write about how to encourage employees to make decisions and take actions based on Values.
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Penetration of Values
There are various methods for promoting the penetration of Values, but I would like to write about what I have done here.
Values are "what the organization cherishes." I connected what the organization cherishes with what the individual cherishes. In other words, I connected the organization's Values with individual values.
For individuals whose values are not clear, I encouraged them to discover what they cherish. Please refer to the link below for details.
After clarifying personal values, they deepened understanding of the organization's Values. During this process, the creators explained the emotions and meanings they attached to each word of the Values. Since Values themselves are invisible, discussing not only the Values but also the stories of the founders and pivotal moments that influenced the Values, as well as episodes that represent the organization's identity, further deepened understanding. Some organizations may find it beneficial to create examples of behaviors that embody the Values to deepen understanding.
Subsequently, I linked individual values with the organization's Values. They understood how personal values align with the organization's Values and identified commonalities. To support this process, they shared their thoughts in groups of 4-5 people, deepening connections by hearing others' experiences and perspectives.
After this, it was more important that line managers had regular one-on-one conversations with their team members, linking daily actions with the organization's Values. To implement this practice, it was not only essential for the immediate line managers to conduct such dialogues but also for their line managers to adopt a similar approach. Ultimately, top management needed to engage in regular conversations with the direct reports about Values, demonstrating leadership. In addition to discussing Values with direct reports, top management also talked about Values in touchpoints with employees.
To support this, it's necessary to incorporate elements of Values into HR mechanisms. For example, including Values in performance management leads to discussions during regular one-on-one meetings and enables recognition of individuals who demonstrate behaviors aligned with Values and lead to results.
By leveraging HR mechanisms and demonstrating a commitment to Values in daily actions, top management ensures Values are put into practice. When conversations like "that action embodies Value X" become common across various contexts, Values have significantly penetrated the organization.
Once Values become implicit and manifest in everyday actions without explicitly using their words, the Values section of the figure above can be shaded green.
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Conclusion
That concludes my discussion on "Values" for this time. Specifically, I covered why Values are important, how to create them, and how to promote their penetration. Of course, what I've written here isn't exhaustive, so I hope you can find your own methods while considering the information provided.
The key is to plan and execute necessary actions to ensure Values become implicit and naturally guide decision-making and daily actions.
I hope this has been helpful to you. If you found this article useful, please consider sharing it with your network or giving it a "like". Also, please note that this newsletter reflects my personal views and is not affiliated with any organization.
If you'd like to read previous issues, you can find them here.
I look forward to writing about other HR mechanisms in the next issue. Stay tuned!
Speaker, Author, Professor, Thought Partner on Human Capability (talent, leadership, organization, HR)
6 个月Naotake Momiyama Thanks for focusing on values, which turn aspirations into actions. I like to talk about the value of values for external stakeholders and to make sure that values inside are connected to the value customers and investors receive from the organization https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/value-values-shaping-future-work-through-human-dave-ulrich/?? Thanks for sharing.