We need to talk about values

“Values are the things you hold onto even in tough times and they are the things you most want validated by others.”

– Margaret Heffernan

I’m thinking, rather than the organisation trying to fit people to the idealised values on their website, they look at what they actually do habitually and work out their values from that.

And if they found that one of their “values” was “cheat to survive”, they may change their ways.

I put this out on LinkedIn last week and Anish Hindocha replied: “Far far easier to project what your aspirational values are versus staring at the truth in front of you.”

Anish nails it in a sentence. Though it may be useful to elaborate on my thinking here.

Do values have to be aspirational?

Looking at Margaret Heffernan’s statement, if values are aspirational then they try to set the tone, right? Surely that’s a good thing?

But aspirational values become really hard to hold in tough times. And they will rarely be validated by others. And if they are not held then there is no integrity.

People feel this: they know something is wrong. They feel wrong.

One of my early coaches used to say “being out of integrity is the cause of all suffering”. More on integrity in a moment.

Some of the values I see most on company websites are:

• People are our greatest asset
• Innovative
• Integrity
• Open and honest
• Customer first

You know it’s easy to knock these and people do, regularly. They are hard to live up to and easy to shoot down. What do you think?

Integrity is not a value, it’s what you have got when you are living your values

Customer first, well for a start it’s last on the list! Sit in a Board meeting and you will see most of what is talked about is internal; the problem jobs, the problem departments, the problem people, the problem accounts and yes, the problem customers!

What about innovation – it’s difficult to innovate when compliance is measured.

People are our greatest asset – do you feel like a top asset round here, do your people, have you asked them in an intelligent way or are you getting the compliant response?

Open and honest – how open? How honest?

Many years ago, when ‘partnering’ was trendy in the construction industry, I coached a board of directors and one of their stated values was openness and honesty.

Part of my brief was to help them win their first partnering contract – they had been trying for years without success.

In one session I asked “when is it acceptable to tell a lie?” The commercial director said, “I tell lies all the time, it’s part of the game we play”.

I asked, “At what cost to you?”

He fell silent, and then said: “That’s a can of worms, I haven’t slept well for years, it’s not who I want to be, it’s the industry we work in.”

The MD said, “This is why we haven’t won a partnered contract.”

And, Integrity. In my mind, integrity is not a value, it’s what you’ve got when you’re living your values – you are integrated.

What’s the alternative then?

If aspirational values are problematic, then what’s the alternative?

Here are two ideas, starting from my hypothesis that a value is something that we really value and therefore it must show up in what we do, our actions, behaviours and decisions.

First, take an honest look in the mirror, at what ‘we’ really do round here, day in day out in the operation of project or organisation. Make a long list, group into themes and name the themes. Here are some possible patterns:

• Profit from weakness of others
• Work long hours to show commitment
• Exclude dissenters, promote those like us
• Win at all costs
• Focus on task and problems

Having “stared at the truth in front of you”, what are you going to do now?

The second alternative is similar to the first, but this time identify your successful habits – the things that you have done for years and are proven to serve you and others well.

As before, cluster and name. I did this years ago and the image above shows my values and practices card. It’s well-worn because it’s constantly shaping what I do, who I am and who I am becoming.

Is there something wrong about your values?

The title of this post, We need to talk about values, is based on one of my favourite films “We need to talk about Kevin”.

Kevin’s Mam thinks there is something wrong with him. His Dad thinks, “leave him alone he is just a normal kid”.

Kevin grows up and does something terrible.

Give me a call (+44 7904 186855) if you would like to talk about values