Organizational Values, Part II: Instilling Values in Your Everyday
This is the second in a two-part series on organizational values. If you are curious to learn more about how to create values, click here.
Organizational values are the core principles and beliefs that shape the culture and behavior within an organization. In the previous post, we talked about why an organization should define its values and some tips for how to do so. Here, we’re focusing on how to instill the values into the everyday operations of your organization. Values on a page or website don’t mean much if they don’t drive the actions and decisions of the people inside the organization.
Values show what is important to an organization AND the approach to work that will be valued by the team. When they are instilled in the way an organization operates, they can provide clarity and direction on everything from hiring and performance conversations to strategic planning and budget allocations. Here are some tips for how to ingrain your values into your organization.
Create an internal team tasked with developing ways to ensure alignment with the values - aim for cross-functional representation involving folks from different levels and perspectives. If your organization has a senior leadership team, name a senior staff member to liaise with the culture team (i.e. receive and communicate updates, give them topics to provide input on) but not necessarily attend all the meetings. Give the team latitude to be creative, and trust them to know which ideas will resonate with your staff.
Make them visible! Post them. Everywhere. In conference rooms or shared workspaces. On desks. On your website. In your social media channels. Include videos or blogs from team members sharing what a certain value means to them and how they live it out at your organization. Another place to make them visible is in team and board meetings. Consider starting each meeting with story of impact that highlights your team’s work to make progress on your mission and align with your values.
Build a self-reinforcing values-based staff acknowledgement system - that’s a mouthful! But the idea is simple - create a way for team members to appreciate each other for behavior that aligns with the organization’s values. At uAspire, stars were a part of our brand at the time, and we attributed each value to a brand color. When a staff member wanted to recognize the values-based work of another, they said a few words at a team meeting or in a personal email and gave them a star. A more modern, virtual-friendly twist could be associating an emoji with each value and providing time for staff members to offer appreciations to each other in a virtual team meeting. The approach is up to you - or, better yet, your internal values team. The important piece is that the system reinforces itself. And when it does, it’s a sign that the values are alive in your organization.
Apply a values lens to strategic planning and budgeting: Filter each goal in your strategic plan through the lens of your core values. If the goal does not align, reassess or let it go. Same goes for budget decisions - at the beginning of your budgeting process, ask your team “What needs to be true about your budget to ensure it is aligned to our values?” As you go through the process, circle back on these principles to ensure you haven’t veered too far off the intended path. Consider spending more on the things that enhance your organization’s ability to live its values, and less on the things that do not. As noted in this great LinkedIn article, if collaboration is a core value, you can justify spending more on open office space or online meeting and collaboration tools like Zoom.
Embed your values in your talent management systems - there are many ways to do this, and I have found the highest value approaches to be in hiring and performance management. When hiring, ask questions in the screening interview that test for alignment with your core values. As for performance management, have a section of the review that provides the employee and the manager the opportunity to reflect on how the employee upheld (or didn’t) the organization’s values. If you incorporate peer and/or upward feedback into your reviews, ask values alignment questions there as well. The screening interview may feel early, and the performance evaluation may feel like a lot of work, but let me ask you this - if you hire/have an employee who gets their work done but does it in a way that detracts from your values and negatively impacts your organizational culture, are they truly a fit for your team?
If you want to talk through this or any other issue related to people and org development, email me at erin@erinjcox.com.
