How to Make Values Live in Your Organization

Values exist in every workplace. Your organization’s culture is partially the outward demonstration of the values currently existing in your workplace. The question you need to ask is whether these existing values are creating the workplace you desire.

  

Do these values promote a culture of extraordinary customer care by happy, motivated, productive people? If not, you will want to:

• Identify the values that currently exist in your workplace;
• Determine if these are the right values for your workplace; and
• Change the actions and behaviors by which the values are demonstrated, if necessary.

To really make a difference in your organization, you need to do all three. "Within the organizations I have had the opportunity to serve, the core values were communicated by actions mostly - in the ways in which business is conducted on a day-to-day basis, and not so much in words directly spoken or written. I am a strong advocate of demonstrated values more than written or spoken - actions speak louder, but also believe that written values that reinforce and support specific actions, and specific actions that reinforce and support written values, make a powerful combination that far exceeds one or the other by itself. If it is written down and demonstrated in action, we can really hold our feet to the fire when we need to."
 

Values Development Process

 

My focus, in this article, is on how to develop and articulate shared workplace values. While the focus is on values identification and alignment, you can use this process to develop any product or course of action that needs widespread support, enrollment in, and ownership from your staff.

I have used it successfully to help organizations develop mission statements, visions for their future, relationship guidelines and norms, prioritized action plans, and departmental goals. 
  

Steps in a Values Identification Process

  

To identify organization values, bring together your executive group to:

• Learn about and discuss the power of shared values;
• Obtain consensus that these leaders are committed to creating a value-based workplace;
• Define the role of the executives in leading this process; and
• Provide written material the executives can share with their reporting staff.

In one of my client organizations, that recently completed this process, the Team Culture and Training Team, a cross-functional group of employees from every level of the organization, asked the executive group to initiate and lead this process.

Where possible, acting on a desire for change that is percolating from all corners of an organization, is a powerful assurance of success.

Design and schedule a series of values alignment sessions in which all members of the organization will participate. Schedule each member of the organization to attend a three-four hour session. (If your group is small, it is most effective for all members to meet in one session together.)

These sessions are most effective when led by a trained facilitator. This allows each member of your organization to fully participate in the process. Alternatively, train internal facilitators who lead one session, and participate in another.

Value Statements

During this session, or in an additional session, participants discuss how and whether these values are currently operational in your workplace.

People then define each value by describing what they will see in behaviors and actions when the value is truly incorporated into the organization belief system and culture. The more graphic you can make these statements, the better for producing shared meaning. Several examples of these value statements follow.

Integrity: We maintain credibility by making certain our actions always match our words.

Respect: We respect each patient's right to be involved, to the greatest extent possible or desired, in making informed decisions about his or her health and plan of care.

Accountability: We accept personal responsibility to efficiently use organization resources, improve our systems, and help others improve their effectiveness.
 

The Leaders' Role Following the Workplace Values Process

 

Following the values identification and alignment sessions and agreement on the values, leaders, with staff, will:

• communicate and discuss the mission and organizational values frequently with staff members;
• establish organizational goals that are grounded in the identified values;
• model personal work behaviors, decision making, contribution, and interpersonal interaction that reflect the values;
• translate the values into expectations, priorities, and behaviors with colleagues, reporting staff, and self;
• link participation in the adoption of the values and the behaviors that result, to regular performance feedback and the performance development process;
• reward and recognize staff members whose actions and accomplishments reflect the values in action within the organization;
• hire and promote individuals whose outlook and actions are congruent with these values;
• meet periodically to talk about how the group is doing via living the identified values. 

  

Source: http://humanresources.about.com/

 
EMBRA Corporation as part of its services offers training and education for career development, career counseling, skills assessment and variety of other services that will make your career more successful. For more information, go HERE.

 
 
Nikolina Gavroska

EMBRA Corporation