How serious are you about your values?
How serious are you about your values?
Andrew was on the senior leadership team of a professional services firm. He enjoyed the work he was doing but felt there was a disconnect between what the organisation said they stood for and how that was translated into how everyday work, rules, and decisions were made. There had also been a couple of times when Andrew wasn’t sure how he felt about the way certain people were being treated and, on these occasions, there were some sleepless nights. But why was this happening and what could be done about it?
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The organisational stuff
Organisations often spend quite a bit of time developing their Mission and Values. Some organisations go so far as to proudly display these on their walls, their websites, and in much of their written material. But have you ever been in an organisation and read the plaque in reception and then once you got past reception into the inner sanctum, things felt a bit (or a lot) different from what was written on the walls? It’s weird right and creates this disconnection for us because there is a mismatch between what is written (or said) and what actually happens in real life.
Organisations express their values in how they do things. We can see this by which behaviours are rewarded, and which are punished. Values provide a set of principles that underlie everything that the organisation’s people do. As mentioned earlier, organisations have two types of values: those that are said and then those that they put into action. Ideally the two match, but sometimes they don’t.
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If your organisation’s values don’t match the values it claims to embrace, then employees will become cynical. An example of this is to think about one of the worst leaders you have seen or ever had yourself. Now lineup said leader’s behaviours with the values that the organisation has espoused. Do you notice a disconnect? Now think about how the organisation responds to said leader’s behaviours – do they reinforce and reward the behaviours, or do they reprimand and punish those behaviours? To be clear, we are talking about the consistent application of a set of behaviours that a leader has and not a one-off, out-of-character occurrence. You’ll know if they are consistent behaviours because most people would describe the reputation of that leader in a similar way over time.
Patrick Lencioni in an HBR article titled Make Your Values Mean Something talks about four different categories of values within a company:
Core Values – these are the deeply ingrained principles that guide all a company’s actions and they are the cultural cornerstones. These are often non-negotiable values and they won’t be compromised for either convenience or short-term economic gain.
Aspirational Values – those values that a company needs to succeed in the future but currently lack. We see this often when an organisation wants to have a shift in culture and to do that, they may need to take on board some new values to help them get to that future place. The key with aspirational values is to ensure they don’t dilute or confuse the core of what the organisation ultimately stands for. The other thing about aspirational values is they need to be values the senior leadership team, will be able to demonstrate consistently.
Permission-to-play Values – these values simply reflect the minimum social standards of behaviour required of any employee. These don’t vary much across companies which means, by definition, they won’t distinguish a company from its competitors.
Accidental Values – these values arise spontaneously without being cultivated by leadership and take hold over time. Some accidental values can be of value to the organisation, for example when they create an atmosphere of inclusivity. But there can also be negative forces, like a culture that excludes or diminishes certain parts of the workforce. Leaders need to ensure they distinguish core values from accidental ones as the confusion here can be dangerous. Note: If you are not clear and intentional on the values you want in your organisation, you will get accidental ones by default.
This framework is very useful when organisations are considering their values, especially when there might appear to be competing values. It can also be a useful way for organisations to communicate their values to their workforce – particularly the aspirational values as then the workforce understands that this is something everyone is trying to work toward.
Your personal values
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As individuals, we also have our own personal values. Not everyone has spent time exploring what their values are. And some people don’t know where they would even start. But we too need to consider how our actions compare to the values we say are important. As individuals, we too can have accidental values that emerge. These may contribute to our derailing behaviours or blindspots which ultimately will impact our reputation, so there is a lot of value in understanding our values.
When considering our values, it’s important to note that there are two types of values. There are what we call toward values and there are away values.
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Toward values can be described as those things that move us toward pleasure. For example, what we value that helps us achieve our goals; that makes us the best version of ourselves; the values that move us toward the things we want in our life.
If you want to get clear on your toward values you can write a list of 10 things by answering this question, “What has been most important to you in life”?
Once you have your list, you want to prioritise these values and you can do this by asking yourself “What has been more important for you to feel X or Y”? (X and Y represent the words on your list).
This exercise will help you list your values in an order of priority that makes sense to you.
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Away values can be described as those things that prevent us from experiencing pain. For example, there might be certain feelings that we prefer not to have, like fear or rejection.
To gain clarity on these values, you could ask yourself, “In the past, what have been the feelings you would do almost anything to avoid having to feel”? This might be a slightly shorter list than the toward values.
Once you have your away values list you want to ask yourself, “In the past, which of these feelings would I do more to avoid? This will help you prioritise or rank your away from values.
As individuals, we can now also place our values into the Values Grid above. What are my core values, which are aspirational, which are permission-to-play values, and which ones are accidental?
With this additional clarity on our values, we can ensure we are intentionally living in integrity with who we are and what is truly important to us.
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Having clarity on our values and understanding how our values shape the rules we create for the way we live is one of the coolest things you can do. It allows us to move toward becoming our future selves with more ease and conviction. It’s like having an internal compass guiding you to your true north.
If you have tried to unpack your values to know if they will help you move toward your big picture for your future but haven’t quite nailed it yet, we should chat. Getting clear on your values to help you have more impact is part of the work I do with leaders through my Leading with Impact 1:1 Coaching Programme. If you would like to know more, feel free to get in touch and we can explore if my coaching approach would be right for you.
Lead with Impact,