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Newsletter September 30, 2011. Do You Walk The Talk In Your Organisation? |
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When we look at the corporate collapses around the world in the last decade, one thing is very clear. In the words of Ian Berry - The Values On The Wall Were Not Walked In The Halls. One thing that characterised all these organisations was the brilliant lucidity of their Vision, Mission and Value Statements, the very upmarket presentation of them in videos, framed statements on walls and in high gloss documents. Another thing that characterised them was the significant amounts of money they paid to consultants who helped create the words and to media, public relations and graphic design people who let the world know about them. What is also very obvious is that, having done all that, they failed to live them in their organisations. In fact, many of the people who created those words were jailed for failing to live them, for breaching the values of their organisations in the most serious ways. This newsletter is about Vision, Mission and Values and how organisations can be true to everything they stand for. In the last resort, however, it all comes down to us. We are the ones who have to live our values. We are also the ones who need to be courageous enough to leave the organisation whose values are in conflict and not aligned with our own. May you be inspired.  Maree Harris. PhD. 
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Walking The Talk Every Day At Work Bringing Alive The Organisation's Vision, Mission and Values.
Recall the excitement of beginning a new job! You’ve found what you believe to be your perfect job in an organisation whose values fit with your own. The advertisement resonated with you. You did everything you could to find out more. You went on to the website; you read their promotional material and you got the latest annual report. It all rang true to your values and sat well with what you considered was important in your life. You applied for the job. You got it and commenced work with great enthusiasm and high expectations. What happened next is not what you expected. You discovered after a very short time that you were working in an organisation that didn’t walk its talk! The organisation’s public persona and promotion – it was all rhetoric, all talk, just words. Work there was all about outcomes and results and the ends justified the means. In the high pressure environment of many workplaces, all those values, those things that were so important to the way the organisation said it went about achieving its vision and goals, went out the window. We just get to where we want to go the quickest way possible. If we have to compromise, manipulate, tread on people’s toes, put people down, lie a bit, cheat a little, criticise or twist the truth, that’s O.K. as long as it’s not too obvious, we don’t get found out and we get the results. Creating Culture It’s not O.K. as more and more organisations are finding out. It’s the way an organisation lives out its espoused vision, mission and values that creates the Culture. Culture is often taken for granted in organisations, just like the air we breathe. We don’t notice it until it is compromised. We need the “air” in our organisations to be fresh and invigorating, yet when the vision, mission and values are compromised, that “air” can become toxic, stale and oppressive with the obvious consequences for all who breathe it. The organisation and its employees become sick. This means that the personal branding of the organisation is compromised also. As Richard Barrett, a leader in values-based leadership, has said: “Who we are and what we stand for is becoming as important as the product we sell or service we provide.” Most organisations are recognizing this and are concerned about how they are perceived in the community and in their industry or professional sector. More and more are putting their time, energy, commitment and money into aligning who they are and what they believe with what they do. How Do You Do That? Ensure that everyone understands what is meant by a Vision, Mission and Values Statement. David Parrish has an excellent and very meaningful explanation. He says that:
Go back to the organisation’s Vision Statement. It’s usually the Board of an organisation and/or the CEO or partners of a professional service firm who set the vision for the organisation. Because the Vision is about the future and where we want to be, the challenge here is to create a picture of it for the employees that makes it real and possible in the now, rather than some vague possibility in maybe 10 years time or something that can exist perfectly written on the wall, but be totally impractical in reality. Revisit the Mission Statement next. We’ve all heard said about someone: “She’s on a mission,” meaning she has a goal that she wants to achieve. Her commitment and determination is obvious to everyone and no one doubts she will achieve her mission or goal. So the description of the mission of the organisation has to be as decisive, determined and clear as that. People have to look at your organisation and say: “That organisation is going somewhere! It is on a mission.” Finally look to the Values. This is where the really interactive stuff can be done with all employees bringing many ideas and experience to the exercise. Values are very much about them and how they conduct themselves. It’s about aligning what is important to them with what is important to the organisation. So let’s spend some time on this. How Many Values Is Your Organisation Trying To Live? I want to take you through a process I’ve used with organisations to help them clarify their values and then ensure they are lived out in their organisation. It is generally agreed that between 4 and 7 values is ideal. If you have many more than that it could be helpful to remove some or combine them with similar ones. It’s much easier to live out a few values than a large number – to keep a few balls in the air all the time, than a dozen! Values need to be shared. Ensuring that everyone understands the value in the same way is important. Some of the most common values in organisational value statements are : Respect, Integrity, Trust, Confidentiality. Values Are "Doing Words" Not "Naming Words". Have you noticed how values are usually written down as nouns? That may be why they so often stay as words on the wall. I remember being taught in Grade 3 at school that nouns were “naming words”; they named things. If we don’t identify with the “names” and how we are to respond to them, then it is not surprising that they remain just that. Values are only real when they are lived. To be able to be lived, they have to be turned into “doing words” or verbs. I also learnt that in Grade 3. So “Integrity” becomes “Acting with integrity”, for example, and “Confidentiality” becomes “Respecting the confidentiality of colleagues and clients”. It doesn’t stop there. The next step is: How do we live those values? Exercise. Do this exercise as a group or team. Divide a sheet of paper into 3 columns and head each column. Column 1 – What is our understanding of this value? Column 2 – What are the desirable behaviours that demonstrate this value? Column 3 – What are the undesirable behaviors that are associated with this value? Here’s an example from a workshop I conducted recently, using the value Integrity. Example - What Is Our Understanding Of Integrity? Values are subjective and at this stage of the process there may well be argument about what “Integrity” means. This discussion is important because it opens people up to the diversity in the organisation. As long as it is a discussion conducted with respect for everyone’s opinion, it is a valuable learning experience. What are the desirable behaviours that demonstrate Integrity? It is necessary, however, to agree on the desired behaviours that the organisation wants lived around its value of “Integrity”. Some suggestions may be –
What are the undesirable behaviours that are associated with Integrity? This is an equally important part of the learning. This is where the “But what if……” discussion takes place.
The organisation needs to have processes in place for responding in these situations where its espoused values are challenged. This is very likely to happen because the world in which we are living is very complex, culturally diverse and characterized by flux and uncertainty. There are rarely any black and whites anymore. In the last resort it is Action that counts, not Words. As highly regarded executive coach, Marshall Goldsmith says: Ultimately, our actions will say much more to employees about our values and our leadership skills than our words ever can.
If our actions are wise, no one will care if the words on the wall are not
perfect. If our actions are foolish, the wonderful words posted on the wall will only make us look ridiculous.
Are Your Values On The Wall Walked In The Halls? This is the question frequently asked by a colleague, mentor and good friend of mine, Ian Berry, Founder of the Difference Makers Community and Author of Changing What’s Normal. As a management and business consultant, Ian frequently worked with organisations helping them develop Vision, Mission and Value Statements. Usually he worked with the CEO and senior executives until one day he had a profoundly important experience that changed all that. He talks about it in the video link below 5.09 mins). http://www.differencemakers.com.au/video/are-your-values-on-the-wall The main message from Ian’s video for me is, as he says, If you have a statement on the wall that you don’t
live then that lie spreads itself like a virus all over the place and it creates disengaged stakeholders – not just employees and customers – all your stakeholders.
Changing What's Normal - The Book by Ian Berry
Ian Berry
is the Change Master and a highly experienced management and business
consultant, founder of the Difference Makers Community and author of Changing
What’s Normal,
his recently published book.
In an era where leaders have so little time to read, Ian’s book is just what they need – short chapters full of high quality inspiration from someone who is a leader in his own right. He brings together years of experience as a business consultant and leader and captures some of his key experiences in what he calls “sparkenations” – “a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what’s normal.” Each sparkenation makes a chapter in a book that needs to sit on the desk of every leader, not on a bookshelf. It is one of those books that can be picked up, opened at any page to be inspired in a few minutes and, as he says, have passion ignited. You will, however, want to read it cover to cover. It is, as well, a workbook. It challenges us as the reader to do the work that each sparkenation calls for, to act on the passion that is ignited. To find out more and order a copy - http://www.changingwhatsnormal.com/buybook.html
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