Walking the Talk on Organizational Values

One of the most challenging tasks for any leader is to secure long-term growth and development of his or her organization, without compromising short-term results. To do this, leaders need to be aware of all the intricacies of various organizational components (strategy, processes, structure, people, reward systems, etc.) and their complexity. They also need to know that the thread connecting all the pieces of an organizational puzzle in the long-run is organizational culture and its underlying values. These informal components of every organization are critical drivers of its future development and performance. 

Values in an organization represent a set of standards and principles that guide the behavior of all its members toward achieving its overall mission. Therefore, in order to steer the wheels of any organization, its leaders need to take into account not only formal steering mechanisms (e.g., hierarchy, budgets, policies and procedures, control, etc.), but also its values. Organizational values should be carefully defined and publicly announced, so all the members would be aware of them and try to act accordingly (of course, incentives for acting according to the proclaimed values need to be in place first). 

However, the problem that many organizations seem to face is the misalignment between organizational values on one side, and individual values of their leaders on the other. Once formalized, organizational values are usually being announced and heavily promoted throughout the organization, thus spending significant resources and time. If leaders in an organization do not live up to the proclaimed organizational values, either because they choose to ignore them or are unable to internalize them, there will be negative long-term repercussions. More specifically, when leaders’ decisions and behaviors do not reflect organizational values, cynicism starts mounting among organizational members. They usually become disenchanted in organization, and their energy and enthusiasm dissipate.

Therefore, if leaders want their organizations to thrive in the long-run, they must start paying close attention to the agreed-on values that will ultimately produce a certain type of organizational culture. In addition to paying attention, they also must live those values. If properly enforced, the proclaimed values will eventually start shaping the manner in which organizational members act and behave. Of course, not all the members will be able to internalize these values and will probably decide to leave the organization (this is how organizational values perform the function of a selection mechanism). In time, the rest of the members will become more prone to the new values. The cohesion among them will become apparent and new organizational culture will start emerging and getting its firm shape.

In the era of an increased pace of technological changes, the development of mind-boggling business models, frequent industry disruptions by unexpected start-ups, and rapid introduction of new and upgraded products and services, understanding the importance of having proper organizational values in place may be one part of the equation for building agile and flexible organizations we need so desperately. Walking the talk on organizational values provides the benefit of having the cohesion among organizational members who actually believe in fulfilling the organizational mission. This might be the strongest coordinating mechanism at disposal to leaders in any organization. With the shared purpose in mind and values to live by, an organization can afford not to produce an amalgam of other coordinating mechanisms such as layers upon layers of management, piles of policies and procedures, direct supervision of every organizational member that eventually turns into micromanagement, etc. All these coordinating mechanisms usually produce enormous costs without adding any additional value to the end user of organization’s products or services. 

And guess who’s paying the price for not walking the talk on organizational values? Well, it’s the end user, of course.

So, start walking the talk on organizational values. As a result, an organization driven by its mission and values will begin to surface. This organization will have a broadly defined direction and guiding principles, while allowing enough flexibility for all sort of opportunities to be captured and initiatives to be pursued. A value driven organization will unleash creativity and enthusiasm among its organizational members and thrive in the long-run as a result.