How to handle personal and corporate values in your employee management process
Most of us have an intrinsic set of personal values and established companies subscribe to a set of corporate values. So shouldn't this be a 'match made in heaven' and make your employee management processes so much easier? You would think this would be the case, however many employees frequently feel that their personal values are being compromised and countless companies are of the opinion that some of their employees are working against their corporate values. Why does this happen?
A set of principles or standards of behaviour held dear to an individual or organisation
Values are meant to give us a 'moral compass' against which we can assess and make decisions about how to behave and keep on track. In companies, values are also meant to give people a common language, mutual understanding, and to align everyone in the same direction.
What goes wrong?
Having been on both sides of this coin for many years, I have noticed some common trends from both sides that are worth considering:
1. Employees:
- Often like to hold others accountable to values, which they themselves don't display,
- Frequently use values as a moral high ground from which to throw stones, and
- Hide their own poor performance behind values.
2. Employers:
- Often have a set of values on the wall and no evidence of anyone actually living these,
- Pay lip service to values only bringing these out to 'judge' an employee's performance, and
- Carry out certain positive actions purely for commercial gain so the action is good but the INTENT is not.
So are we doomed to accept personal and corporate values colliding?
What can a CEO do – in terms of the company's employee management processes - to ensure that the corporate values:
- Are genuinely embraced,
- Are truly lived, and
- Create the kind of authentic environment for individuals, teams and the organisation as a whole to thrive?
11 Tips to make sure you don't have a 'values collision' in your organisation
1. As the CEO, look yourself in the eye and make sure that you TRULY and obsessively believe in your chosen corporate values. If you don't, change these for a set that work for you.
2. If you have the luxury of creating a set of corporate values from scratch, use a process of genuine inclusion and let the values come from all levels within the company.
3. Many companies already have corporate values so if you're in this situation, spend a good deal of time – in your employee management processes – unpacking the meaning of these values with your employees at all levels of the organisation.
4. Never ever place values 'on the wall' and launch with glitz and roadshows. Corporate values are a JOURNEY not an EVENT so treat these as such.
5. Be obsessive about showing, visibly and consistently, how you and your executives 'walk the talk'.
6. Create a culture where corporate values are spoken about in every conversation, at the beginning of every meeting and are referred to in every piece of conversation.
7. Design a simple set of key values indicators which measure that key values are being lived (avoid subjectivity).
8. Place the highest weighting or multiplier on a performance bonus on values before inputs, outputs and profit.
9. If annual awards are the norm, reward values ahead of results.
10. Live your corporate values even behind closed doors because the way you and your executive team behave towards each other - even if no-one can see - is vital. If you're flippant and joke about the values or are irreverent, it will cascade down and cause your employees not to care about the company's values either.
11. Encourage and reward the smallest steps people take towards living the values as it is often the smallest things that have the greatest impact.
By taking cognisance of all of the above you should come much closer to an inclusive set of values that resonate with everyone. A set of values that become "the way we do things around here", business as usual. A set of values that is NEVER seen as separate to what we do, only to be brought out and dusted off on high days and holidays.
Does this mean that you will never be challenged, criticised or that the individuals in your organisation will never have a values collision? Of course not, however with the RIGHT set of values lived in the RIGHT way such challenges should be easily overcome.
Talk to us about building alignment, a common language, a compelling set of values......... The power of building trust and what it can do for your Executive Team.
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After fifteen years of corporate general management, and a great deal of valuable experience gained in several high-level executive posts, Shirley was driven by a desire to share and teach using transformational training models which would deliver impactful results in organisations. In her role as head of operations for Lumina Learning Shirley qualifies and accredits new business and client practitioners in the use of the Lumina Learning suite of development tools and their application. She supports and develops the SA practitioner network. |
