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Core values are the essence of your identity as an organization.
Here are 10 key ideas that will help you understand what core values are all about; how to identify them and bring them into the day-to-day management of your organization.
Key Idea #1: If you have large binder of policies and procedures but don’t have a short list of core values, your organization is probably over-managed and under-led. Value clarification is one of the most important roles of leadership.
Key Idea #2: In the absence of core values, there is no foundation for strategic decision making leaving you vulnerable to mission creep. If nothing is most important, your organization will pursue anything that looks interesting. Distraction is the top of a slippery slope. Values narrow and shape your strategy.
Key Idea #3: In the absence of core values, you will hire the wrong leaders because you have no way of predicting culture fit before hiring. Values ensure you get the right leaders on the bus because the personal values they espouse align with the core values of the organization.
Key Idea #4: In the absence of core values, your staff will be inconsistently rewarded. Each team leader or department head will recognize staff performance as they see fit. Irregular rewards and surprising promotions foster suspicion and breed office politics. Core values make it clear to everyone how people are treated, recognized and rewarded.
Key Idea #5: The strongest cultures are driven by a handful of core values expressed in simple but meaningful words. Start by answering these three important questions. What makes this organization unique? These are your mission values. What constitutes great performance? These are your excellence values. How are people treated around here? These are your relationship values.
Key Idea #6: Core values create simplicity in organizational systems. Core values that are understood throughout the organization reduces the need for large binders of policy and procedures, simplifies performance management systems and enhances recruiting and hiring processes.
Key Idea #7: Leaders should consider themselves the storyteller of the tribe. Everybody loves a good story. Stories are narratives that further explain what is meant by the core values. Stories remove cryptic language and make the values pop with meaning. Stories that are repeated become legends in the community and when leaders tell legendary tales, it cements the bond between the leader and the staff.
Key Idea #8: Organizations should hire leaders based on core values. Only hire leaders whose espoused values align with the core values of the organization. Hiring for alignment makes managing them a lot easier. Just loose them and let them grow your organization.
Key Idea #9: Just as core values should be incorporated into your hiring systems, they should also be the skeletal structure on which you hang your performance management systems. All performance measurements should be linked to one core value or another and with a little creativity, they can be.
Key Idea #10: Core values should have a prominent place in everyday management. When you make a decision tie it back to a core value especially when cascading the decision to the entire organization. When you affirm a staff member relate their behaviour to a core value. When you offer constructive feedback, bring in the core values as well. Leaders need to become chief reminding officers and be creatively redundant when referring to them all the time.
Values are like glue, they hold your organization together. Values are like a compass, they set organizational direction. Values are like a ruler, they measure organizational progress.
As you bring your core values to life – keep it simple, be repetitive and stay consistent.
Large binder of policies but no list of core values? Your organization might be over-managed & under-led. Click To Tweet
Value clarification is a key responsibility of every leader. Click To Tweet
Core values are the foundation for strategic decision making. Without them you are vulnerable to mission creep. Click To Tweet
In the absence of core values, you may hire the wrong leaders because you have no way of predicting culture fit before hiring. Click To Tweet
Values ensure you get the right leaders on the bus because the personal values they espouse align with the core values of the organization. Click To Tweet
Core values make it clear to everyone how people are treated, recognized and rewarded. Click To Tweet
The strongest cultures are driven by a handful of core values expressed in simple but meaningful words. Click To Tweet
Use stories to communicate core values. Narratives that are repeated become legends in the community and when leaders tell legendary tales, it cements the bond between the leader and the staff. Click To Tweet
Just as core values should be incorporated into your hiring systems, they should also be the skeletal structure on which you hang your performance management systems. Click To Tweet