Imagine for a moment that aliens from outer space have landed on Earth. These beings, with their advanced technology and keen observational skills, have one primary mission: to understand your company’s values.
They don’t do this by asking questions or conducting interviews. Instead, they observe the actions and behaviors that take place in the organization.
They sit back and quietly watch how employees interact with each other and how they spend their time.
They notice how workers behave when the bosses are in the room versus when they are on vacation.
They take note of what happens when an employee needs help.
They also pay attention to what people do when something goes wrong.
Through these observations, they deduce what truly matters to the company and they compile a list – your company’s values.
What would these alien observers say are your company’s values?
Would they determine that your company puts a high value on collaboration because they see employees working together and helping each other?
Or would they infer that the success of individuals is what’s most important because they see employees working alone and only on their own assignment?
Maybe they conclude that customer service is a strong value in your company because so much time is spent developing relationships with customers and going above and beyond to ensure they have a positive experience.
Or maybe they decide that what really matters is expediency and selling the maximum number of products regardless of quality and customer satisfaction.
What would these out of space onlookers say about what you, as the company leader, value?
Would they deduce that you trust your workers and care about them as people?
Or that the workers are cogs in the machine and must be heavily monitored to ensure that company operations run smoothly?
Would they say that you value integrity because you do what you say you will do and expect accountability from others?
The most important question, however, is this: How do the values identified by these alien visitors align with the values listed on your company website?
Hopefully, there is little daylight between your professed values and your lived values. When that is not the case, declaring your values but not practicing them is not only futile but can actually do harm to your company. (More on that in our next post.)
Living your values, however, is not as easy as it sounds. In the blink of an eye, you can get derailed only to later realize you’re spending your time on something that is not your priority.
In our upcoming posts, we’ll talk about the role that values play in shaping company culture and how values that are not operationalized in the workplace can actually cause harm to the organization. Then we’ll give you some ideas for how to transform stated values into lived values that are continually reinforced by the company.
Until then here’s a mini assessment you can do to get a sense of how well your values align with your actions:
1. At the end of each day, make a list of all the activities you engaged in and how you spent your time. Do this for four days.
2. For each activity, identify what value that action represents. For example, if you exercised, you probably value your health. If you brought lunch to your team, that might indicate that you value camaraderie or teamwork.
3. Review the list of values and ask yourself this question, “Do my actions reflect the values I say I have?”
Image by Wesley Tingey
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