Thanks Tom. I've noticed myself repeating a phrase of late, along the lines of "no-one exists in any org other than to contribute to its objectives, ie deliver performance." If this is so, then that org's purpose, values, culture code, brand slogans etc etc are all there to support goal achievement. I'd go further and say that if anything isn't aligned to objectives it is questionable (does this make the boat go faster etc).
I couldn't agree more. I think playing along with the somewhat dated idea that, yes, we have these incredibly business-focused objectives, but we also will hold true to the following values that seem to fly in the face of them, is damaging. It creates a dissonance, and I think actually disengages more people than it engages over time.
The number of people I speak to whose big complaint is that the company they work in does not exemplify the values they claim to. They feel betrayed and lied to, and like they're being given a false set of expectations. Most people, I would wager (though I don't have evidence to back this up right now), would much rather work for an employer that says, "These are our objectives and these are the things that matter to us." We don't then have a secondary set of values that we pretend to honour but in fact just pay lip service to.
Thanks Tom. I've noticed myself repeating a phrase of late, along the lines of "no-one exists in any org other than to contribute to its objectives, ie deliver performance." If this is so, then that org's purpose, values, culture code, brand slogans etc etc are all there to support goal achievement. I'd go further and say that if anything isn't aligned to objectives it is questionable (does this make the boat go faster etc).
I couldn't agree more. I think playing along with the somewhat dated idea that, yes, we have these incredibly business-focused objectives, but we also will hold true to the following values that seem to fly in the face of them, is damaging. It creates a dissonance, and I think actually disengages more people than it engages over time.
The number of people I speak to whose big complaint is that the company they work in does not exemplify the values they claim to. They feel betrayed and lied to, and like they're being given a false set of expectations. Most people, I would wager (though I don't have evidence to back this up right now), would much rather work for an employer that says, "These are our objectives and these are the things that matter to us." We don't then have a secondary set of values that we pretend to honour but in fact just pay lip service to.