People talk about the importance of a values-based culture but what is it and why does it matter?
A values-based culture is a workplace where all its people share a common set of behaviours. This runs from the top down and the bottom up. Everyone is fully bought into these behaviours and everyone lives by them.
I put the emphasis on everyone because it is essential that there is buy in to the values from the very top of the organisation or it does not work. I would also argue that people from across the business should be engaged in devising the values and reviewing them at regular intervals. This helps to develop long term commitment and buy in. It also allows for agility if the business priorities fundamentally change.
I was introduced to a values-based culture many years ago through working with one of the UK's largest supermarket chains. I was a subcontractor into that business, but I was expected to know and reflect their values as if they were my own. Even now I can remember (or maybe with just a little prompt) what those values were. I could see them everywhere.
They were incorporated in what their CEO said to shareholders, they were built into their corporate language, they were visible in their CSR- (Corporate Social Responsibility) programme and better still; their people at all levels felt part of this set of behaviours.
More recently I spent time in a company where the CEO was a big promoter of a values-based culture and it helped to fine tune my understanding of the best ways to deliver it.
Why does it matter you may ask? It is just a fancy waste of time, is it not? You may say you have been running your business perfectly well, without values. This may be true, but if I were to ask you- Who are you? What is your business? What does it stand for? Could you answer me? I am sure you could.
If you say, for example we have been established for 50 years providing quality service and expert advice- you have a set of values.
You may not have put them on paper or discussed their importance with your team. If not, why not?
If you are committed to quality service and you have spent 50 years building that reputation; why would you allow any member of your team to jeopardise that because they don’t know the behaviours expected from them in delivering quality service?
You cannot assume people automatically have the same values and behaviours as you have in relation to your business.
By having a values-based culture and explaining to your team what behaviours are expected in relation to those values; it will create a clearer understanding of individual and collective responsibility in the workplace. By having a leader and a senior team who live those values in everything they do, they will create an expectation for everyone else to display these behaviours.
This creates a more harmonious workplace and breaks down barriers between leaders and people on the ground. I believe it leads to a more successful business.
A word of warning however, make sure that when you are setting your values you can actually live up to them. It is worse for a business to have a set of values that they don’t adhere to, especially in a crisis, than if you don’t have a set of values at all.
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