6 Ways to Bring Organizational Values to Life
by Jane MItchell
How many organizations do you have personal experience of or that you have seen in the headlines with stories of cultural failure, leadership blindness, unethical behaviour, terrible decision-making? It’s unlikely to be none and even in a few seconds is more likely to be somewhere between five and ten.
Let’s take VW, WellsFargo, Uber, Exxon, Fox News, United Airlines, The Weinstein Company, Walmart, HSBC, Lehman Brothers, Barclays Bank, Adidas, Samsung, and in the past few weeks and days here in the UK, Carillion, ToysRUs and Maplin? The world is seemingly now littered with companies who have experienced ethical failures, There is a whole host of reasons for these dreadful situations but these are salutary examples and worth remembering as we consider whether there is any value to values, and the impact of these failures on industries, communities, customers, suppliers, employees – and more.
The majority of those companies, with one exception as far as I could tell, do or did have Codes of Conduct, Ethics policies and Values that are and were woven through a myriad of communications. Values in particular are often proudly proclaimed by organizations as if somehow they add credibility to their activities. The fact is though, and as the companies we have in our minds will attest, they don’t qualify you for immunity against ethical and corporate failures and are useless as a get out of jail free card. In fact, quite the opposite. Today ‘stated’ values are heavily scrutinized and tested by people as they make supplier and employer choices, develop business partnerships, engage as employees, and so on. Flowery and fluffy intentions (the touch feely stuff) are simply not acceptable any more. If you say it, then you will be challenged to do it.
As communicators we know that the world is increasingly connected, that everyone and anyone feels free to communicate anything and everything. Organizations have for a long time had little control over their corporate messaging, and the social media revolution has made all of this possible. That is old news but it is fundamental when thinking about how your own organization might credibly communicate its values.
There are hundreds of thousands of papers, articles, blogs and opinions written, from the highly academic to the esoteric and the prosaic. All tackle the question of “What is the value of values? Having worked with a number of organisations that have grappled with this very question, I think that it boils down to something essentially human. If anyone in an organization can believe in its values, can relate to them and understand what they mean for individual (and corporate) behaviours, these are values at work. The Values live and breathe in a 1 way that everyone knows what it means to be a part of and to do business with the organization. Expectations are set and delivered.
The trick, however, is getting that to happen. It sounds relatively simple and certainly many organizations, as we’ve said, do profess to be values-led. But how many really are, and what is it that makes them stand out?
…to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit.
One of my personal favourites is South West Airlines, a positive poster child and example of a company that has values at the heart of its ethos and which is dedicated “ to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit.” The six company values including Servant’s Heart and Safety and Reliability, speak to that mission and in my experience, they deliver.
From a Country and Western-themed safety briefing, to a collective sense of fun, helpful and communicative dispositions of all staff, punctual, clean and comfortable aircraft, great communication on the ground, in the air and online and an infectious sense of pride. I am enthused by a group of people who genuinely love their work and the company that they show up for on a daily basis.