You’ve seen it: the values of the organization laminated in plastic and hanging on the walls of the workplace. Some but very few people read them; most ignore the text laden with words that have lost their meaning. You will probably remember some years ago when the word “excellence” had to appear in mission and value statements. No one really knew what it meant but it sure sounded good as a mime of Peters and Waterman’s In Search of Excellence. Over the past months, we have been discussing the RSS factor in organizations, i.e., the Really Short-Sighted Stuff. Ignoring or mismanaging the belief system of the organization is one of them.
What are organizational values meant to do? Quite simply, to guide behaviour. Not so simple though. The belief system – the emotional code for what the organization stands for – does not receive enough attention from executives. When a commonly stated value such as: “We believe that our people are our most important asset” is set as a value by an organization, it had better mean that the leaders of the organization actually believe what they are saying and act accordingly. Otherwise, the statement becomes an inside joke among the employees.
When an organization develops reputation for believing and nurturing its people, they actually compete to work there. Over time, the executives change and adopt the pernicious belief that: “1/3 of our people are heading up in the organization; 1/3 are heading out the door; and 1/3 better prove their worth to figure out what third they fit in”. This disintegration of a key belief through the mis-management of the organization’s values causes employees to “forget about the organization, it’s everyone for themselves.”
Some organizations have adopted a value system that is not simply “professed”, i.e., screwed to the wall and ignored, but “operating”, i.e., the organization’s leadership uses them as a guide for decision making. These are the organizations whose leadership is not afraid to stand up and enforce their shared belief system, thus earning the respect of its people. These are the organizations you want to work for and with, not the ones who say one thing and do another…
