Values are drivers of attitudes, beliefs, and actions in a group context. Whether they are implicit or explicit, values exist within a culture, where they inform shared norms and expected behaviours, shaping the social and emotional environment which individuals inhabit.
At their best, values are created as a group, and enable group successes.
To get more info on this, we hosted a webinar where we discussed how to build, grow, and live organisational values, with thanks to insights from two experienced, knowledgeable people leaders from the Great Place to Work Community. Demonstrating the role of these key culture drivers, the panellists discussed how and why they defined their values and the many benefits of doing so.
Patrick Murphy
CEO
Codex
- Building values should be a group activity, where leaders and employees work together to define the set, creating a sense of ownership in the organisation.
- Consider what your values say about your company, they should reflect where the organisation wants to be, forming the building blocks of culture moving forward.
- To bring your values to life, integrate them into your performance management process, setting strategic objectives, communications and decision making.
- From a leadership perspective, values should give the why in how decisions were arrived at, as often they will form the basis for difficult choices made in the business.
- Values should be aligned with your Great Place to Work, action planning strategy, with regular reviews illustrating their role in enhancing the culture for all.
Sharon Balmaine
Head of HR
Fáilte Ireland
- For values to be at their most effective, you must delineate and communicate what observable behaviours indicate that those values are being lived in the organisation.
- Values can provide alignment between leaders and staff in ways of working, dominant attitudes, and expected behaviours, offering continuity amongst the group.
- To highlight the importance of values to staff, provide them with digital space to create videos sharing their perspectives on what values mean to them.
- Fáilte Ireland’s role in providing support to Irish tourism business meant that their values were not only internal drivers, but formed the basis for how they would support the industry as a whole in its most challenging year to date.
- In a remote context, values can be reinforced through their integration into selection and induction processes, leadership development programmes, recognition and linking the wider societal benefits of the work conducted back to values.
Most apparent in the account of both leaders is the collaborative nature through which values should be built, grown, and lived. We believe that what is important to a culture should be determined through a collaborative process, and we can help you on that journey.
Get in touch with our team today to find out how we can help you develop your values and culture.
More resources on organisational values:
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