About The Team
Since we launched our Personal and Corporate/Team Values assessment in the UK I have spent a lot of time talking with many different companies at various levels regarding their understanding of “Values in the workplace”
What struck me was the number of companies that have their own set of “Values” , believe they act upon them and/or their people live by them. It appeared that many decided upon their values either by way of the SLT, the HR Department who had decided they needed a set of Values or perhaps a nominated group within the company who then sat around throwing ideas about and then finally decided upon what they should be.
When looking more closely there were many that were more aspirational values and would like to have rather than actual or core values…so it was what they aspired to be in the future, not what they currently were or displayed. Nothing wrong with the aspirational value as long as you have a strategy of how it can become an actual core value in the future
Others had values what I would consider to be a natural expectation of the company, such as Customer Focused, Integrity, Authentic and so on…. These are values I would expect from any company and would shy away from those that do not display on a day to day basis.
So my question in the headline was: What have you got? Surely it would make sense to do an audit to identify what you currently have from your existing people. Identify what their Personal Values are..what motivates and what is important to them.
From this information we can then not only identify the organisations core values, but could also break them down by team or department within the company
There are many discussions and articles of aligning an individual’s personal values with the company core values…which again is really important, but until you have done an audit/benchmark then how can you really do this without first identifying what you have already got and whether they fit?….and of course what questions to ask at interview stage?
Learn More About Values
Want to learn more about Values assessments, and how they can help your business? Request to take a free test yourself, and we will provide you with feedback on your results.