Are Your Culture and Values In Sync?

You have probably read or heard a lot about the importance of having a great culture and about having core values for your organization. Often, the missing link is in examining the relationship between the two, because while it is important to have a great culture and great core values, it’s just as important to ensure that the two are in sync within your organization.

There are seven characteristics of any organization[1]:

1. Innovation and Risk Taking- The degree to which employees are encouraged to be innovative and take risks

2. Attention to Detail- The degree to which employees are expected to exhibit precision, analysis, and attention to detail

3.  Outcome Orientation- The degree to which management focuses on results or outcomes rather than on the techniques and processes used to achieve them

4.   People Orientation- The degree to which management decisions take into consideration the effect of outcomes on people within the organization

5.   Team Orientation- The degree to which work activities are organized around teams rather than individuals

6.  Aggressiveness- The degree to which people are aggressive and competitive rather than easygoing

7.   Stability- The degree to which organizational activities emphasize maintaining the status quo in contrast to growth

An organization will exist somewhere on a continuum from low to high within each characteristic. The question is, do your core values line up with your organization’s placement on each continuum? For example, let’s say you have a core value that states “we notice the small stuff” (implication is that attention to detail is important), where in reality, details like pets that are supposed to get boarding baths or a swollen paw where a catheter is taped too tight often get missed. In this example, you sell the practice to existing and future employees through a great core value, but deliver on the low end of the ‘attention to detail’ spectrum. Perhaps you purport to encourage personal and professional growth but you micromanage and don’t let your team take risks and make mistakes (obviously not suggesting that patients be put at risk). 

It’s the type of hypocrisy illustrated in the previous two examples that often leave our teams feeling frustrated and de-motivated. Every now and then, simply take a moment to consider if you are walking the talk in the way you execute activities within your organization. If not, own it and change it and be more mindful how your values and culture align in the future.  

[1] Source: Judge, Timothy A. "Organizational Culture." Essentials of Organizational Behavior. By Stephan P. Robbins. 12th ed. NJ: Pearson, 2014. 249. Print.