We’ve all seen organizations with values to which no one pays attention. And we’ve seen other organizations’ values actually guide choices. To be one of those organizations, focus on three values. Turn them into guiding principles. Leverage stories to embed them in the culture. And insist that all use those values to guide the choices that matter most.
Focus on three values and turn them into guiding principles
Recall Volkswagen had four values: social responsibility, sustainability, partnership, volunteering. Then they lied about emission test results in direct violation of the first two values. The new CEO led the entire company through an exercise in creating “Values from us, values for us” which produced 111 words.
No one can remember 111 words, let alone use them to guide choices.
Instead, pick your three most important values.
Every organization needs values of integrity and respect, and a third value that flows from its core focus: Innovation (design), accountability (produce), collaboration (deliver/distribute), or customer-centricity (service.)
<a href=”https://www.primegenesis.com/our-blog/2024/02/how-att-added-insult-to-injury/core-focus/”><img class=” wp-image-525674 aligncenter” src=”https://www.primegenesis.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Core-Focus.png” alt=”” width=”728″ height=”246″ /></a>
Almost everyone cares about innovation, accountability, collaboration, and customer-centricity. This isn’t about not caring about any of those. It’s about clarifying which is most important.
So, integrity, respect + one of the four.
But that’s just a start. Now figure out what those words mean for you.
Different words mean different things to different people. For example,
- For people going through an after-lunch lull, a “refreshing” Coca-Cola “revives” them.
- For people drenched in sweat after exercise, a “refreshing” Coca-Cola “replenishes” them.
- For a Japanese white collar working-man getting out of a bath at 11:00 p.m., a “refreshing” Coca-Cola gets him “ready for sex.” (True.)
Integrity is about who you are and gets at components of incorruptibility, soundness, and completeness. Turn that into guiding principles like “Do the right thing.”
Respect is about how you treat others with consideration, esteem, and deference. The guiding principles here may focus on dignity, diversity, inclusion, openness, courtesy, kindness, and clarify the priority of owed versus earned respect.
Figure out what innovation, accountability, collaboration, or customer-centricity means for you and translate that into a guiding principle to guide others’ choices.
Leverage stories to embed them in the culture
At Procter & Gamble, you could stop anyone in their tracks by asking if they were sure they were “doing the right thing.” One P&G story of integrity centered on its executive, Charlie Carroll, who was in Mexico with the leadership of a newly acquired company looking at their top-selling drug.
“What does it do?” Charlie asked.
“Like they do with aspirin in the USA, doctors tell their patients to take two of these and call them in the morning. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they don’t. But because it’s a complete placebo, it has no negative side effects, so it’s better than aspirin.”
“Take it off the market tomorrow.” Charlie didn’t need to check with anyone. He knew P&G did not sell placebos.
This is like the collaboration stories about FedEx employees doing whatever it took together to get things delivered on time, or about Ritz-Carleton customer-centricity stories of people going out of their way to make guests feel welcome, appreciated, cared-for, and special. Stories matter.
Insist that all use those values to guide the choices that matter most
Some values-guided choices are around hiring, and the balance of consequences for behaviors on the job.
Hire for values. Ask candidates for jobs for their definitions of your core values and for their stories about doing or not doing things in line with those values. At one level, you’re looking to make sure the people you hire think about integrity and respect generally the way you do. At a different level, you’re trying to make sure they prioritize the same third value you do. People who care most about strict accountability are wonderful in production-focused organizations, but may be a little confining in service-focused ones.
Reward people that make choices guided by your values and punish people that don’t. You define your real values by what you’re willing to walk by. If you tolerate integrity lapses, disrespect, or failures to innovate, be accountable, collaborate, or think customers-first, people will keep doing those things. Eventually your values won’t matter – unless you choose to make them matter with an occasional public hanging or over-the-top celebration to bring home the point.
John Hall
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