Values

Values alignment to the Vision and Purpose of the organisation is vital to the success of the enterprise. For those leaders who get it right, clarifying values and aligning systems renew employee commitment and enhance morale as control gives way to a trusting environment. It is here that innovation and discretionary effort are released.

Values alignment needs to be a consultative process. The more input employees at all levels have the more authentic the Values Statement is. And it needs to be true consultation using at least stratified samples of employees or, ideally, the whole workforce. But Values by themselves mean nothing. People need to understand what behaviours demonstrate the Values in use. This is perhaps the most important part of the consultation process. The behaviours for each Value need to speak to every level, in simple language.

Benefits of Values-led organisations:

In the absence of a set of shared organisational Values, people will default to their own personal values which will directly impact on organisational effectiveness. It will also potentially increase risk and harm your reputation.

  • They promote a shared understanding among employees and a shared decision making model – no two people necessarily see things from the same point of view
  • They promote a shared vision for success
  • They state a clear purpose and set of values that employees can sign up to
  • They define key relationships inside and between stakeholders
  • They provide the opportunity to measure culture and benchmark workplace actions against stated values
  • Organisational Values provide consistency, order and structure to the culture that emerges
  • Shared values provide guidance when faced with ambiguity or a crisis. They provide employees with the answer to the question, “What do we stand for?”

Method

Values Alignment

Our processes start with re-visiting the current Values. This is done in a collaborative way, firstly involving the senior executive team and other primary stakeholders, shaping a draft set of Values. This template is then discussed and shaped into a final draft through consultative workshops across the organisation for final approval and implementation. The process of clarifying an organisation’s values begins with:

  • The values currently being lived out in the organisation and the values its members aspire to
  • The values that will enable the organisation’s goals to be better served
  • The values desired by wider stakeholder groups
  • The best set of values that will resonate with members; refresh culture and accelerate progress

 

Values Training

The new set of Values – whether re-worked from the existing Values or developed afresh – have to be integrated into the organisations systems and communication. This is achieved by a series of experiential workshops that allow employees and stakeholders to contextualise the new Values to their role. An understanding of how our personal values intersect with the organisation’s values is critical to achieving this alignment.

Our Leadership Values Workshops are designed to gain high-level commitment from each member of the Leadership team to role model the stated values and safe-guard the integrity of the organisation by building values based workplace cultures. Non financial risk is today seen as one of the greatest challenges for leadership teams and our values and ethics initiatives are designed to skill leaders to address this growing area of concern.

Here we build the business case to secure buy in from the boardroom to the back room to the values initiative. We facilitate a dialogue with critical stakeholders to position values as:

    • The organisation’s success formula (aligned to strategy)
    • A blueprint for the leadership model
    • A valuable collective and risk management decision making model
    • Guiding the Personality of organisation
    • Integral to performance management indicators
    • The basis of the organisation’s social license to operate

 

In the training roll out we start at the top where leaders are challenged to engage with values dilemmas drawn from their business context and to reason to peers how decisions can be made to balance business growth with safeguarding reputation for integrity. The Executive team then work together on an action plan designed to incorporate stated values and business principles into:

  • The Strategic and Operational Plans
  • The Fraud, Risk & Corruption Control Plan
  • Performance Management and Reward and Recognition systems
  • Recording and reporting systems and Community engagement
  • Cultural change programs

 

Once the leaders have been able to contextualise the new Values, employees need to know what the new Values and behaviours are and how they were arrived at. They need to have the opportunity ask questions and understand why and how the new Values apply to them.

 

Why Us

Managing Values’ Principals have more that 25 years experience in values development, alignment and training. They also have professional qualifications in values research and practice. Drawing on the latest research, Managing Values builds the business case for “managing by values” and showcases ‘best practice’ from around the world.

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