Implementing Values
Values can be incorporated into every aspect of the organization, from its hiring process to its day-to-day operations. Once implemented, they need to be “alive” in the communication, processes, physical materials, and behaviors. To enhance their livelihood, recognize and reward employees who ground them in their everyday activities.
Here are some ways in which values can be incorporated:
1. Assign a Chief Culture Officer or Cultural Ambassador: to make sure the values come—and stay— alive, it is best if one position (fully) dedicated to culture, to spreading awareness, and getting employees to truly understand and embody the organizational values.
2. Recruitment: during the recruitment process, companies ought to look for cultural fit, alongside a respective skill set. The values of the organization need to be communicated to the potential hires who are assessed based on their alignment with the values of the organization.
3. Employee Onboarding: values can be introduced to new hires as part of their onboarding process. They should be given a comprehensive introduction to how the organization's values translate into the workplace, and how they can apply them to their role. This will help new employees integrate into the culture faster.
4. Performance reviews: values are a meaningful integration into the performance review processes. At Reemina, we call this the “Values Party”1, where each individual is assessed on their most and least expressed organizational value.
5. Monthly rewards for exemplary employees: based on nominations from every individual in the company each month a new person is celebrated and rewarded for having significantly exemplified a specific value.
6. Team-building: for any activities around team-building, the organizational values can serve as a topic and guiding parameter, which reinforces both the importance and aliveness of those values.
7. Physical representations of values: from creative showcases on the office walls, to T-shirts, coasters and flyers—the possibilities are endless.
Implementing Values Happens Mainly Through People
While several techniques can be used to define values, the challenging part that sidetracks values in most organizations is the implementation. Values mustn't be just some stickers one puts on the office walls or copies to the organization's website.
Visual representations of values are helpful, however, values need to be apparent in the words and actions of every individual in the organization. Out of all the employees in the organization, the best role models for values are the living examples set by top management.
Everyday words, and much more so everyday actions of leaders (when done in the right way) represent the largest portion of the conveyance of cultural code to others. This process is automatic, unplanned, and cannot be faked. Leaders are role models and others will follow their behavior or pick up clues as to what is important and what is not.
Managing Values Alignment
Choosing the right implementation speed of organizational values is vital to preventing unnecessary damage. The integration speed is dictated by the time it takes to align current operations, staff, and management to newly (re)defined values. Consideration must be given to whether values can be realistically reflected in processes, decision-making, and outputs, as well as if any skills development is necessary to make values actionable. Levels of alignment include:
Leadership Alignment: Leadership must role model and embody organizational values to set the standard for employees.
Individual Alignment: Employees' personal values should be compatible with those of the organization to enable them to bring their full selves and give their best at work.
Structural Alignment: Organizational structures such as policies, systems, and procedures should mirror company values.
The Depth of Implementation
The extent to which values permeate an organization's practices ranges from highly detailed to primarily overarching principles. Organizations can customize the integration of values into various detailed procedures. An organization that prizes respect, responsibility, and cooperation might translate these into its meeting structure as follows:
1. Value: Respect
Time: Ensure punctuality and optimal meeting length.
Participation: Involve relevant contributors with a direct interest in the agenda.
Scheduling: Set meetings at convenient times for all attendees.
Structure: Cover all agenda items and assign clear roles, honor all viewpoints.
2. Value: Responsibility
Preparation: Arrive at meetings with necessary materials and data.
Expertise: Proactively seek solutions within your domain.
Clarity: Obtain information to resolve ambiguities when necessary.
Delegation: Understand the project's context and your role within it.
Engagement: Minimize distractions to maintain focused participation.
3. Value: Cooperation
Problem-Solving: Work collectively towards unified solutions.
Support: Build on each other’s ideas and provide reciprocal aid.
Recognition: Celebrate team and individual successes.
Atmosphere: Create a positive and creative meeting environment.
Resolution: Address conflicts immediately.
Networking: Use meetings to build stronger connections with colleagues.
Managing the Headwinds of Values Implementation
Integrating values can be uncomfortable to some because it may require significant cultural change. As a core aspect of an organization, the introduction and reinforcement of values must be managed systematically. In well-established organizations without explicitly defined organizational values, support and time are necessary for staff to adopt and adapt to redefined standards of cooperation. After the transition, however, adherence to these values should be non-negotiable. It may require difficult decisions, such as parting ways with top performers who do not align with these essential organizational values.
Avoiding Pitfalls: Common Mistakes in Values Implementation
If the implementation of values is done poorly, it can have negative consequences on the internal dynamics, the culture, and even the performance of the organization.
Common mistakes to be avoided include:
Lacking Clearly Defined Values
The absence of clearly defined values can lead to fragmented company culture and inconsistent behavior across departments. This lack of uniformity often results in confusion and misalignment within an organization, particularly as it scales. Without a foundational set of values, different segments of the company may operate according to divergent standards and conflicting unwritten agreements, hindering overall cohesion and effectiveness.
Poor Timing in Values Rollout
Implementing values without a long-term strategy for integration can lead to a swift decline in employee engagement and morale. The initial excitement generated by the introduction of values can quickly fade if not maintained by consistent leadership support. This can result in disillusionment among staff, as the promised cultural change fails to materialize, damaging trust in leadership.
Values as Lip-Service Instead Of Lived Experience
When values are publicly declared but not practiced, it creates a dissonance between the organization's stated identity and its actual culture. This inconsistency not only fosters internal conflicts but also alienates new hires, who may feel deceived if their expectations of the workplace culture do not align with reality. Such a scenario can seed distrust and disengagement from the outset.
Leadership Not Exemplifying Values
The failure of top management, especially the CEO, to embody the organization's values can undermine the entire value system of the company. Employees expect leadership to lead by example; thus, when leaders disregard the very values they advocate for, it erodes trust and respect. Without a united front from leadership, values become hollow, leading to skepticism and a lack of buy-in from the team.
Misalignment Between Values and the Nature of Business
When an organization fails to align its values with its actual field of work or operational reality, it risks adopting values that are inapplicable or unrealistic. An example of this would be attempting to adopt a value like "Love" in a judicial enforcement context, which, although noble, may not practically resonate with the nature of the work. Upon reassessment, changing this value to "Respect" ensures that all interactions, even in enforcement, recognize the humanity of each person. This mistake underscores the necessity of choosing values that can be realistically embodied in day-to-day activities and that accurately reflect the organization's mission and the nature of its tasks.
Confusing Aspirations with Achievable Standards
Differentiating between organizational values and aspirational future values is critical. When there's a significant gap between the present culture and the visionary values, a strategic plan for bridging that gap is essential. Without a clear implementation strategy, introducing aspirational values can lead to confusion and internal conflict among employees. They might find themselves torn between adhering to the existing operational norms or embracing the proposed future values. To avoid this, management needs to first embody these future values, ensuring their integration is realistic and grounded in the management’s practices before rolling them out to the entire company.
Values Becoming Outdated or Ignored
Values risk becoming irrelevant or forgotten unless they are constantly reinforced through action and communication. This necessitates an ongoing effort to keep the values alive and central to the organization's culture. Implementing activities that actively involve the staff in celebrating and demonstrating these values can maintain high morale and ensure that values are not viewed as just another fleeting initiative. Examples include monthly highlights of values in action, employee presentations, or creative projects like video submissions that showcase values. Such initiatives reinforce a sense of ownership and engagement among employees, making the values a living part of the organization.
Values in Action: Hiring for Cultural Fit
Hiring for cultural fit involves evaluating if a candidate's values align with those of the organization during the interview process.
This assessment can be conducted individually or collaboratively by the hiring team to determine the candidate’s psychological profile and personal values rather than just their skills and competencies. This approach focuses on more open-ended questions aimed at understanding the person holistically.
Evaluating Candidates from Two Perspectives
It is essential to consider two aspects when interviewing candidates: the individual's competencies and fit for the role and the organization (e.g., expertise, values), and their potential impact on the team (e.g., what they will contribute or disrupt).
For instance, a highly skilled top management candidate whose values don’t align with the organization's values should not be hired due to the potential long-term imbalances they may cause. Conversely, candidates whose values align with those of the organization are likely to be more motivated and serve as role models for their teams.
Interview Process and Assessing Values
During interviews, a hiring manager might explicitly discuss each company value or keep them in mind to compare with candidates’ responses indirectly. It’s crucial to identify any stark contrasts to the organization's values, as these are generally non-negotiable and would automatically disqualify a candidate.
Hiring is not only about finding candidates who will perform well when everything is favorable but also about identifying those who will uphold company values in challenging situations.
Questions for Assessing Cultural Fit
To assess a candidate’s alignment with company values, hiring managers can use specific questions to uncover underlying beliefs and behaviors. Here are some example questions:
What motivates you to work every day? Why do you wake up in the morning?
Excluding the salary, what are your expectations from this job?
What are your deal-breakers? What situations or practices would you find intolerable at work?
Reflect on your past employment experiences. What did you appreciate and what were your concerns?
What qualities do you find essential in an organization or team? Can you share instances where you contributed positively to your team?
Describe how you managed through difficult challenges or high-pressure situations.
Each question should help paint a clearer picture of whether a candidate's values and approaches align with those of the organization, ensuring they are a good fit both professionally and culturally.
Values in Action: The Values Party Assessment
The Values Party is an innovative 360-degree feedback addition to the standard performance review cycle, aiming to promote a comprehensive understanding and adoption of the company's core values.
By integrating values into the performance review process, organizations can ensure that these collaboration agreements are not only understood but also put into practice by every team member.
Purpose and Benefits
The main goal of a Values Party is to provide feedback to individuals on how well they demonstrate the organization's values through their actions, communication, and work habits. This is distinct from traditional performance reviews, which focus more on individual goals and competencies. Conducted prior to performance reviews, the Values Party offers leaders a broader perspective on their team members and team's dynamics.
This feedback mechanism encourages behavioral change in each team member, resulting in faster (re)alignment with organizational values and ultimately leading to a more unified organizational culture.
In the many Values Parties facilitated, a clear pattern is showing that individuals are more likely to seriously work on the feedback received because they no longer respond just to their leader, but also to all the team members with whom they co-create. Normally, the feedback received on one Value party is corrected (or modified) by the next.
Preparation and Structure
Before the event, participants receive guidelines on evaluating their peers based on the most and least expressed values. Assessments can be privately logged in a spreadsheet. The assessment of least expressed value doesn’t signify that the individual doesn’t possess that specific value or they don’t take it into consideration at work. It is simply the least expressed value in comparison to other organizational values.
New team members are exempt from making assessments but are encouraged to observe the process. The event requires precise timing and active participation, with a moderator facilitating the discussions to ensure efficiency and clarity.
Execution
The Values Party begins with an introduction by the moderator, who outlines the session's structure, average time dedicated to each feedback, and the objectives and benefits of Values Party.
Feedback is given in a structured manner:
Each team member takes turns “on the spotlight” to receive assessments
One by one, every colleague communicates their assessment of the individual's most- and least-expressed values directly to the concerned individual
At the end of the round, the team member “on the spotlight” assesses themselves on their most- and least-expressed values
The rounds are repeated for everyone present at the Values Party.
One person speaking at a time helps with maintaining order, while group discussion is not advised. The event encourages honest, direct but respectful communication, focusing on concrete and indisputable actions rather than intimate, subjective personal traits and opinions. Possible breaks allow the moderator to address any issues and ensure the session remains on track.
During the Values Party, the moderator makes notes of everyone’s assessments (but not the content of the feedback) for each individual, which are later shared with all participants.
Follow-up: Retrospective Meeting
A week after the Values Party, a retrospective meeting is held to reflect on the feedback received and discuss any clarifications or adjustments needed in action plans. This session is also an opportunity to improve the Values Party process based on participants' experiences.
Additional Considerations
Leaders should monitor progress between Values Parties, addressing consistent feedback on certain values. Recognition of 'values champions'—those exemplifying specific values exceptionally well—can inspire the entire team. However, if someone is recognized by everyone for a value they don't personally express, it offers a clear opportunity for reflection and discussion.
Values Parties, held every six months, have proven effective in reinforcing organizational values, enhancing team dynamics, and maintaining an environment of open communication. By continuously refining this process, including adjusting the structure and recognizing values champions, organizations can maintain a strong, values-driven culture.
