ABP News
Values at Work
Posted: 18/10/11Research shows that organisations which enjoy strong values significantly outperform their peers, argued Jan Thornbury, who discussed the importance of values and culture at the October meeting of the ABP.
They tend to be
• Better Performers
• Cope better with change. They can harness flexibility while peers remain “grounded”.
• Better able to withstand a change in leadership.
• Premier institutions in their industry
• Resilient and sustain long term success
• Better at maintaining staff engagement and morale.
• Effective in working across geographic and other natural boundaries
More important than the actual words, it is vital that values are”
• Shared by all.
• Authentically believed (not a ‘wish list’ or politically correct set of statements)
• Properly anchored in the culture
To anchor values properly in the culture it is we first look at how culture is structured. The model used is derived from the work of Edgar Schein, with additional definitions by Collins and Porras (core values) and Johnson (artefacts). It places core values at the heart of the culture – the deepest, unconscious level, then non-core values, behavioural norms and, at the most superficial level, artefacts. In a strong culture the non-core values, behaviours and artefacts are aligned with the core values.
To change culture one must first articulate a small number of core values that are authentic, shared, unambiguous and clearly translate into day-to-day behaviour. Then one must undertake a process of change to ensure that the other elements of the culture are aligned with these.
A broad process is as follows:
Phase 1 involves building a strong and compelling business case that articulates both at a business and a personal level why the change is needed, and conveys a sense of urgency.
Phase 2: To ensure that the values are authentic, they should be derived from the current core values in the organisation. This phase is therefore about understanding the existing culture and uncovering the current core values. Evidence should be sought in artefacts and behaviours and during testing tough criteria need to be employed to check that the core values really are core.
Phase 3 involves the definition of shared, core values based on the outcome of Phase 2. Once articulated, it is advisable to agree examples of behaviours that support each of the values, so that people can better understand what they mean in practice and also as a reference point for the behavioural change initiatives that follow.
Phase 4 is the implementation phase. Typically this phase is divided into three work streams focusing broadly on engagement and communication, changes to artfects and behavioural change. These operate at both a macro (organisation wide) and micro level. Crucial to this is the need to change behaviour in line with the newly defined values.
A suggestion for a macro behavioural change activity might be:
• start with leadership message and role modelling
• mount an organisation wide campaign
• establish a new performance management reward system
• the need for new recruitment practices
• Personal and training development
At the micro level this might translate to :
• identifying specific behaviours to start/stop reinforcement mechanisms
• a viral approach to introducing new behaviours
• individual coaching, feedback, targeted personal or team development
Common errors made in programmed culture change include:
• inadequate leadership
• lack of authenticity
• failure to properly engage people
• lack of clarity and rigour in defining culture
• failure to connect values with vision, the atrategy and the business (it must link with the strategy into one single document)
• Some companies regard culture solely as an HR issue. It must be sponsored by the organisations leadership.
• Addressing cultural issues too late in the process.
• Inadequate implementation, or lack of implementation. Many programmes fail because they never get beyond the launch communications. New behaviours do not appear by magic.