Values are measured by what we do, not by what is said. Whatever we may want an organisation’s culture to resemble, its nature and character are determined by the approach its members consistently apply to their roles and duties.
That’s the difference between proclaimed or espoused organisational culture (professed or declared as existing or intended) and applied (functional, actually experienced) organisational culture.
An organisation’s or team’s leadership should identify and clarify the values and principles on which to base its culture, but that culture cannot be said to exist until individual and collective behaviours demonstrate that those values and principles are actually applied. Until then they are merely ideals, unrealised in practice.
It follows that any intentions to reduce gaps between an organisation’s currently-proclaimed values or desired culture and its actual culture, must begin by changing behaviours – including the structures, official and unofficial guidelines, systems and processes, leadership acts and omissions – they’re all forms of behaviour which guide and influence other behaviours. This approach is far from conventional.
Conventional initiatives and frontline cynicism
Though it’s common practice to attempt culture change by appealing to people with cleverly-contrived PowerPoint presentations, glossy visuals, new websites and logos, themes, or catchy one-liners, there’s little point.
No amount of exhortation for members of the organisation to hold and honour lofty ideals will work. They’ve heard it all before, repeatedly. They’re used to ingenious attempts to fire-up and inspire the workforce, notwithstanding the dismal or dramatic failures of previous efforts.
Employee communication should not be about the adulation of corporate values but the hard, day-to-day business of changing the behaviour of frontline employees. TJ & Sandar Larkin [1]
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CEO/Management-Speak |
Workers’ Interpretation |
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Our mission arises from a great deal of careful effort and consideration by the executive team |
A bunch of highly-paid dreamers checked into a fancy venue, held hands, made a wish then went to the bar. |
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Beliefs and ideals we share . . . |
Embarrassing feel-good ideas we want to inflict on you. |
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The customers’ needs are paramount. |
Quality is whatever we can get away with or fake. |
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Honesty and Trust. |
About some things, at times. No whistle-blowing! You signed a gagging clause, remember. |
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Loyalty and Integrity. |
Give feedback on senior management practices at your peril. If there’s an inquiry say little and make sure there’s nothing to find. |
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Openness. |
You’ll be told some things, when it suits us. |
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Mutual Respect. |
Your deference is required, whatever you may think. |
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Best Practice. Work smarter, not harder. |
Work harder! Don’t point out the Emperor’s nakedness. |
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Teamwork and Dedication |
Your input & output will increase but not your remuneration. |
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Professionalism and Responsibility |
As management defines these terms. (So, be careful not to point out the elephant in the room.) |
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Your input is highly valued |
As long as it doesn’t make management look silly. |
So, stop telling people about values
Whatever is intended by slogans such as those on the left above, the kind of interpretations workers make (on the right) is what they hear and what actually matters. Slogans increase cynicism. They backfire, diminishing the credibility of the serious changes being attempted.
“Is the assumption that employees will hear these senior management pontifications, be deeply moved, incorporate the messages into their most deeply held values, and then use them as a guide in the conduct of their day-to-day behaviour? Surely this is management fantasy on the grandest scale.” [Larkin & Larkin]
Values are not something you communicate in these ways; they are exemplified in behaviours, which is how you actually communicate them – through behaviours. Promoting and promulgating refreshed, clarified or completely new organisational values statements without changing practices, lowers confidence and trust in leadership.
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Frontline workers who experience –
[Larkin & Larkin] |
“The frontline workforce contains not just a few negative employees but is cynical and negative through and through.” [Larkin & Larkin]
Work on behaviours, instead
Stop telling people about values until the espoused ideals are manifest in changed behaviour; until then a new value remains an unrealised ideal. Get to work on the behaviours instead – the ways you and they conduct yourselves.
Where to begin? Start with yourself – your own behaviours.
When everyone behaves in the way(s) regarded as ideal, new values can be said to be in place because they are consistently applied (put into practice); the behaviour and the resulting performance demonstrate that the ideal is valued.
Which are the behaviours you need to “get to work on” modelling, to produce the culture changes you want?
Role modelling is not the main thing in influencing others; it is everything. [Albert Schweitzer]
VALUES & CULTURE
Values: A value is a judgement about what is important and worthwhile; an enduring belief that a specific perspective or mode of conduct is preferable to others.
Values act as guides to action: Because I believe that … and therefore value this … I hold this policy … and it follows that I aim to behave thus …
Values may also be described as those standards or criteria held to the extent that they form a world view, code of ethics, conscience or personal philosophy on which decisions are based, and against which we judge ourselves as being within or outside of our integrity or consistency.
Leaders’ Values: Whatever our leaders claim to value, their actual leadership practices determine the perception of their values in the eyes of the people they lead.
Organisational Values: An organisation’s espoused values are those declared to be the basis of policy guidelines, priority management, strategic imperatives, management operating systems and organisational culture. An organisation’s applied values can be determined by how its constituents behave.
Culture: The distinctive way of life that characterises the functioning of a group and distinguishes it from others.
Organisational Culture: Organisational culture arises from and is the combined effect of the group’s belief systems, values, principles and policies, norms, habits of thought and perception, preferences, codes of manners, language, rituals, customs, protocols, systems, processes, activities and actions – whether or not these matters are clarified or assumed, explicit or implied, openly or covertly sanctioned.
[1] TJ & Sandar Larkin, Communicating Change – Winning Employee Support for New Business Goals. McGraw Hill, 1994.
Tom Watkins
Tom has owned a number of professional training and consultancy business, coached several other consultant trainers and facilitators into successful careers, and authored a range of well-respected publications.
