“Culture and values get attention, but not as the actual backbone of your organization.” – Francois Nader
Culture and values in companies tend to be looked at as a branding thing.
We put together values so we can have an image of the brand, a way of marketing it that makes sense, but they aren’t typically considered to be the actual backbone of the organization.
Companies put money into creating them, nice plaques up to show them, and update their website with them. They may even talk about them in all-hands meetings, but they don’t deeply penetrate the organization.
Just like the backbone of a human, everything in your organisation is attached to culture and values. Without a strong backbone, your organisation is set on a shaky foundation.
Values and culture exist whether you define them explicitly or not.
Companies have values and culture whether they’re defined or not. The leader doesn’t have to spend a single second thinking about them, because what’s important to the leader comes out in how they act, whether they are aware of it or not. The leader can say one thing, but if their values are something else, it will show up in their decisions, how they interact with people, etc.
Consciously or subconsciously, your values are your values. Whether they are espoused or not, whether they are put on a plaque or not — your values exist. And since culture is established from the head down, your values then become the culture of your people and your organization.
Values must be authentic to the leader
Even if your values have been defined, if they are not authentic to the leader, and as a result the leader is behaving differently, your people will see the inauthenticity. This will commonly result in one of two things.
- Your people won’t trust you. They may remain being technically great at their jobs, but they will be guarded and less than honest with you. They will hold back during difficult conversations, feign commitment, and hesitate to call out unproductive behaviors and often they will pursue their own agendas rather than those of the greater organization. All this can spell disaster for executing on your strategy.
- They will leave. As a leader, one of your number one mandates is to attract, retain and assemble the right people, so you can’t afford either one of these outcomes of leading inauthentically. As a leader, you must be able to freely and openly live and breath your values.
The key to values that stick
They are simple. Many organizations work hard to make them marketing-worthy at the sacrifice of simplicity and easy to remember.
They represent the leader (and this is why authentic leadership is important)
Make sure everyone understands, before they join. If these values don’t speak to you this is not the right place for you. For you to be successful this is what it takes.
All leaders demonstrate them. While it’s critical that the CEO and senior leadership team demonstrate the values, it is equally important that every leader lives the values too. Employees spend more than 50% of their waking hours in the environment their immediate line manager creates. If this person fails to demonstrate the values, option 1 noted above is likely.
Values are ever-evolving.
They might not fundamentally change, but if you’re currently a 50 person organization, realize that the word might change when you become a 500 people organisation. You have to be constantly measuring yourself against your values, and evaluating them in an ongoing way to ensure they fit the organization. Sometimes they just need a different word, or to be stated differently — but regardless, values are ever-evolving.
Values-driven CEOs and leaders make it at least an annual practice to review the values, measure the culture and make the necessary adjustments.
If you want help clarifying your values, measuring your culture and ensuring the values stick in your organization, reach out to me.