The Problems with Values

Lots of organisations announce their values to the world in an attempt to underline their moral standing and respect for our way of life.?

But are those the values of the business owner, the staff, the way the business operates – or just another way to make customers feel they have made the right decision??

The truth is that values on their own don’t actually tell us anything at all. In the worst cases they are simply a list of words. But I’m an optimist. I believe that many business owners try hard to create a positive way of doing business in an effort to motivate their staff and attract business. And a flawed attempt to introduce a positive attitude to their business at least shows good intentions.

?After all, in the best work environments, values are a key part of developing the mission, the purpose, the vision and the strategic plan. They can be the foundation for success.

?So how could it be done better?

In this article I’m going to look at three of the issues around business values and suggest how they can be addressed.?

·?????? How we identify the values we want our business to use.

·?????? How we express those values.

·?????? How we can see if the business is actually operating with these values.?

Identifying values.

Almost all businesses start small – and if we get our values right at the beginning, then they will live on as we expand. But our new business owner is working flat out trying to get everything up and running and is probably doing almost everything on their own.

So, let’s accept that this is going to be a two-stage process. Initially, it will be the owner’s personal values that are expressed in the business. But they should be reviewed as the company moves from start-up to becoming established in order to check for relevance, suitability and that they are actually useful.

And, while the number of people in the business is still small, it’s a chance to involve everyone in the process. I’m not suggesting the sort of consultant driven away-day many of us have experienced as a big business tries to rebrand itself. Values are organic and this is best done with an organic process.

?A simple questionnaire followed by informal coffee conversations.?

‘What made you want to work here?’

‘What keeps you working here?’

‘What makes our customers choose us?’

?Look for common themes, discard the ones that are irrelevant – and go back and discuss them again. Repeat until there is broad agreement. Involving your team in identifying the values the business will operate by is the single strongest way to make sure they will be in day-to-day use

?Making your values live.

Many businesses (and this is a sign they have developed their values with Professor Google) simply have a list of nouns or verbs on their website.?

Here’s an example of what happens with this approach.

The Boeing Company, makers of about 40% of the world’s commercial airplanes, have this – ‘lead on safety, quality, integrity and sustainability.’

?Yet every analysis of their quality and safety performance in recent years underlines that these are not the primary focus of the board. That calls into question the third value and almost certainly increases the cynicism and disengagement of the workforce.

?Do your Google search and you’ll come up with a list of common values such as this:

·?????? Integrity

·?????? Accountability

·?????? Diligence

·?????? Perseverance

·?????? Discipline

?How does anyone know what it is they are supposed to do to deliver these?

How does it give customers, suppliers or partners any clue what they mean for day-to-day operation?

?This is simple to resolve. Turn each of these words into a sentence that means something, that generates expectation or offers something to be measured against. Let’s look at an example from the NHS.

·?????? In its list of core values the first is ‘Care’.

·?????? That is then wrapped into a more meaningful phrase. ‘Working together for patients. Patients come first in everything we do.’

·?????? Now everyone has simple question to ask themselves. Is what I’m doing delivering that value or not?

?Does your business deliver your values?

Once you have developed your values and built them into meaningful expectations, how will you know if they actually deliver any real business benefits?

?The first step is with customers and other interested parties. Does their experience of working with your company demonstrate the values you claim to demonstrate? Get some feedback. And do it regularly.

?Hopefully you’ll get a positive response. But if you don’t, the next stage is both essential and probably a bit uncomfortable. Because you need to find where people within your organisation are not delivering your service in the way you want and need them to.

This must start with the top team and include every single member, the business owner included. it requires both honesty and a willingness to hear things about yourself you may not like.

The process involves each of you in the group scoring each other on how frequently they demonstrate that value and behaviour, using a simple matrix. Once you’ve done this with your leadership group, you do the same exercise with everyone else in the business

?There are two things to underline here. The first is that you are not looking for perfection. And the second is that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and values. This is not about criticising someone. It is just evaluating their fit with the culture of the business.

?Your best outcome is that everyone is living the values in their day-to-day work.

The more usual outcome is that most people are doing so most of the time.

The worst outcome is that no one does.

?That third case shows that you have not identified the right values for your business, your market or your staff. You’ll have to start again!

?Conclusion

Values are the bedrock from on which the culture of a business is built. Whatever your core values are, the important thing is to define them, communicate them and, most importantly, live them.

A list of one-word aspirations will have no effect. They are the starting point but need to be translated into something actionable if they are to have traction with everyone you deal with.

As with so much of business, having and living the right values is not done once and forgotten. Periodic evaluation is needed to make sure they are the right values, to make sure they are steering the behaviours you value and to provide the basis for evidence based and constructive performance conversations.

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If you want to refine the values that are driving your business contact me at [email protected]

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