Leading with Values – series introduction
- Why lead with values?
Everyone reading this will knows that most people, organisations and cultures all have values. Right? We were raised to understand that values are important, that we need to learn them, and most of us with some notion of the good values that endure through life.
It is surprising, making this presumption, that most people know what values are, and that first presumption often leads to another that I’ve found false on a surprising number of occasions, especially in interactions with leaders. The second presumption is that people not only know what values are, but that they have their values clearly defined and live by them. And here’s the final presumption of this chain; that organisations, built by people who know what values are and have defined them and live by them, will have clearly defined values and ensure their employees live by them too.
So here’s what I find – the number of people with clearly defined values is far lower than I would have expected, and the number of organisations that know and live by their values is far lower still (20% – based on a 2014 study [1]). Additionally, individuals and organisations that live by their values consistently is similar, but still lower than those that have defined them. Clearly the opportunity calling out loud and clear, and from what I’ve seen in over 15 years working with organisations seeking to become more successful, is that those entities that do live their values succeed faster, sustain their success far longer, and are ultimately more successful over the long term.
Given values drive success, why then are more organisations not living by their values?
Some of the reasons cited during coaching sessions or consulting assignments are as follows;
- Executives can name their personal values, but when asked how many of them they live at work, very few are consistent. Furthermore, when asked why this is, the response is normally ‘my personal values are different to the businesses values’ or ‘my personal values aren’t appropriate for the business’. This seems strange to me, would you not seek to work for and serve in a business that at least aligns, if not directly mirrors your values.
- Organisations that have defined their values don’t live them. There is distrust from employees, even including senior managers who state, ‘they say it but they don’t act like it’.
- There is a contention by employees that values are being compromised for short-term gains, or that the wrong values were chosen by the business originally so that they then can’t sustain the alignment with those values as they strive to achieve their commercial objectives.
- The is a perception that living by values, especially in business where the primary reason to exist is to make profit, means having values will either make it harder to make a profit, or make you a hypocrite of the values in doing so.
Here’s my contention – having values makes it easier to achieve your organisation’s goals, especially if a primary goal is to make a profit.
Knowing what you stand for, and what you stand against (as defined by your values) makes it easier to connect to your market. It makes it easier to stand out. It makes it easier to attract customers who think the same way, and who want to align themselves and spend money with organisations who share their values. It also makes it easier to attract, engage and motivate great people to work with you, one of the largest goals for any business that wants to succeed, and make a profit.
I’ll explore this topic at large, and examine my contention, over a series of 6 articles that follow this introduction.
[1] Harvard Business Review, From Purpose to Impact, Nick Craig & Scott Snoot, May 2014 issue
