Defining what you are and what you are not

Over the years we have talked with many organisations about their mission, vision, and company values, about setting up objectives and people to do well and be aligned to those things and it's gone well. Yet, I've always through there was a bit missing in the puzzle.

When we talk about values, we mean the real values your company has, not the buzzwordy type of stuff we hear so much about. We aren't talking about 'permission to play' or 'threshold' values such as honesty, trust, accountability and so on, those aren't really values that distinguish you as an organisation they would be the bare minimum someone should have just for you to keep them in the interview room!

We are talking about real grounded values that reflect you as a company, frequently they may even only make sense to you as a company (which is quite a good thing!). One of our clients for instance has the value of Enlightenment (which I love). When they describe that to new employees, they talk about having a passion for learning new things, being humble enough to know you don't know and that anyone within or outside the organisation can help you learn more. They take it a step further by reminding them that part of that value is about ensuring they pass the knowledge on to others internally as well as their clients at any chance they must help them become more enlightened about the company, their products, the individual. It's a brilliant value and there have been so many more along the way from various clients, Credibility is another that springs to mind. Here they are encompassing several things. Can you be credible if you are found to be less than truthful? Can you be credible if you aren't keeping up with the latest developments? What if you are putting others down to increase your own standing, does that make you credible? What about not being willing to admit your mistakes?

Useful reading

How to Begin

Recently I read a book by one of my favourite authors, Michael Bungay Stanier called "How to Begin" and it's all about, well how to begin things, how to stop procrastinating and just get moving on things using a bit of a framework to help your thinking. It's another brilliant book from him and I highlight recommend you grad a copy. There are many great lightbulb moments within he pages of the book, for me, in terms of understanding a company's values better it was this bit: This / Not that – Remembering your best Self. This section is all about thinking how best to describe something using pairs of words or phrases, between 5 or 7 of them. These helps describe how you are at your very best (This) and when you are perhaps working a little below spec (not that). For example, for myself when I'm about to go into a session with clients where it's a coaching approach I'm taking I remind myself Listen & question (this) don't tell (not that). The aim is that you end up with a list of things that really help you focus down on being in the right mind set for doing things. Sometimes you come up with the 1 thing you don't want to be easily then it's about finding the opposite. Keep in mind that the 1^st thing that pops into your head is very rarely the real answer, sometimes you need to stick with it a little.

Working through this for myself was when the lightbulb when on, this is absolutely a perfect approach to help an organisation really tune into their values and be able to explain to people what something is and what it isn't, to help them understand what the expectation is and ultimately if they are going to be able to fit with the company.

Clarifying Values with this / not that

From an organisational viewpoint how would this work? It would work exactly the same way as it would for a person, just with perhaps a larger group of people chipping in ideas. As an organisation our values are Learning, Enjoyment, Simplicity and Sustainability. What happens if we look at what Enjoyment is for us and run a that through the "this / not that lens"?  

That means for us, if we want to have enjoyment in what we do we need it to be fun, built on providing support for people, exciting, challenging and it should create engagement and help grow people, doing the opposite of those things just wouldn't hit the mark. We have defined what that value really means to us.

If we brought someone new not the organisation and explained our value of enjoyment as just enjoy what you do, that can lead to all sorts of problems. The person could enjoy making frivolous comments at someone else's expense, they could enjoy being the smartest person in the room and not helping to develop other people. Would their version of enjoyment fit ours? No! they would be a terrible fit and because we have clearly defined what it is we can spot when someone isn't it, we can more easily spot someone who doesn't fit the values of the organisation.

We can then figure out if we can help them to align or if the right thing to do is to help them find a position where they would fit. After all if enjoyment is a real value for us are we living the value if we let this person stay around the organisation?