Values - Not Just For the office Wall Plaque: How Personal and Company Values Intersect by Irial OFarrell

Author:Irial OFarrell [OFarrell, Irial]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781621123804
Published: 2012-02-27T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

Identifying Company

Values

If values are so important to an organization, how can a business go about identifying what their company values are?

Some organizations go to huge lengths and effort to find meaningful values. For example, in 2003, IBM10 decided that it was time to revisit and update their core values, something that hadn’t been done since its founding in 1911. Leveraging off their proprietary technology, they invited fifty thousand staff to engage in an online discussion over a three-day period. From this, their final stated values became:

— Dedication to every client’s success

— Innovation that matters—for our company and for the world

— Trust and personal responsibility in all relationships

As samuel J. Palmisano openly admits, some of the comments were very painful to read, such as the company was crippled by bureaucracy (could be considered an actual value); he was also open and committed enough to not shut the experience down, a key element to the success of the project. The strength of this action should not be underestimated as many an executive would not have been nearly so courageous.

Even for someone not aware of the process IBM underwent to agree on their values, upon reading them, one can see that they immediately stand out from many other “typical” company values as being considered and thoughtful. They are also quite embracing. Looking at “trust and personal responsibility”; this is extended to “all relationships.” It’s not reserved for just clients or staff. Similarly, their definition of innovation is very inspiring—while they want IBM to do well, they also want to make a difference in how the world works.

Invoking a fifty-thousand-way conversation via technology is one end of the spectrum available to identifying company values. Let’s look at the other end of the spectrum, which, I suspect, is the more regularly used end. The following are two of my favorite stories of how companies have actually approached identifying their values.

The first story is from a company I was invited to visit. On the appointed day, I met with the CEO and another member of the management team. The CEO explained that their problem was that, year in, year out, the management team set goals in January but, by year end, they found they had failed to achieve them. As CEO, he recognized this repeat pattern and wanted to change it. Hence the reason I was there.

Prior to our meeting, the CEO mentioned that he was a huge fan of robin Sharma and The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. Excited about the opportunity of working with such an enlightened executive, I started reading the book in advance of our appointment.

During the meeting, as part of assessing where they were at, I inquired if they had company values, which were duly brought up on the screen. I asked where these had come from, to be told that the CEO had introduced them. My next question was whether the values had been discussed with the management team. The response was, “No, but all the team had been given the book to read.

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