No value in values?

A recent article published on The Eventworks website caught my eye last week – and not just because it's written by a former Melcrum colleague, Josie Salkey.

The article questions the authenticity and credibility of the ubiquitous "values program", the one that makes a big noise about what the company stands for, irrespective of whether those values are actually being played out in day-to-day life inside the organization.

The topic stood out because we've been working on a new report on how to manage change communication successfully and it's difficult not to notice how often a values program is used as a sort of "cure all" when companies are going through a period of change or uncertainty.

Although of course it doesn't really cure anything and can fall flat if it happens at a time when employees are feeling despondent and slightly skeptical about management "propaganda".

Having said that, a company has to stand for something and it's important to be able to say "this is what we're all about" in a few simple words.

But perhaps leaders are getting closer to the real value of values when employees are able to go beyond just reeling off the company's five core values (which probably look quite similar to the five core values of a few other organizations), and give a concrete example of how they themselves, their manager, or their senior leadership team, have put those values into action in a recent business decision or an interaction with a customer?

That's probably the point when values start to feel a little less nebulous.

Mandy