June 8, 2023 | By David M. Wagner

I worked at a company where the word “excellence” carried tremendous weight.

Yes, it was listed as one of the company’s values. But it was more than just words in the company literature or emblazoned on our ID badges.

It was part of the culture.

Employees took pride in doing work of the highest quality. We helped make each other’s work better whenever we could. “Excellence” was also a key focus in routine processes, such as project planning (to budget for quality reviews) and individual performance evaluations.

Excellence was truly an organizational value.

Values Drive Action

When we understand our core values, they drive our decisions and actions.

That’s why I emphasize values in the first steps of strategy and strategic leadership.

“Safety” is a common value among industrial companies, where accidents put property, health, and even lives at risk. To embrace safety as a value means prioritizing it above other goals, like profit. So if a new production technique comes along that promises greater cost efficiency, but has an unproven safety record, leaders will insist on proper safeguards (even if costly) or defer until the new approach is proven to be safe.

Organizational values guide decisions about whom to hire and promote, how to structure operations, and what information to communicate.

The same is true on an individual level. When you identify your personal values, you can authentically bring your unique style and perspective to leading others. Acting in accordance with our values also helps us avoid falling into the trap of treating others inconsistently.

Avoid Values Dilution and Dissonance

Conversely, a lack of clarity about values creates conflict.

Don’t dilute values by having too many.

Just because ideas like safety, cost-efficiency, customer service, ingenuity, tradition, quality, speed, etc., are desirable does not mean they can all be top priorities. Chances are, identifying so many values will make decisions more difficult, not less.

Dissonance arises from prioritizing conflicting values, or confusing “aspirational” values (what we’d like to become) with core values (what defines us now).

The leadership at a former employer of mine rolled out new corporate strategy headlined by a new set of values, including speed and agility.

Staff were perplexed, even skeptical. Ours was an organization with a reputation for being deliberative and slow to change.

I did not fault leadership for wanting to change that image. But there seemed to be little recognition of just how much “speed” and “agility” conflicted with the corporate culture, and how much guidance – and, ironically, time – would be required to transform the company.

New values can be attained. But avoiding dissonance requires acknowledging that those values are not yet part of the culture and having a clear plan to instill change.

The opposite of dissonance is resonance. Are you clear on the values that resonate with you, and with your organization? If not, schedule a free consultation to start getting clear so you can re-focus on what matters: serving your mission.