Listing the values a company will adhere to is a good exercise; I suggest it not be limited but all encompassing. There are so many values that people hold important; I have found most have a hard time articulating them. This is the cause of a gut feeling, the person’s inability to identify values that they sense are either being honored or not.
The most important thing in this exercise is for people to better know who they are and what values they are passionate about. If the value list is limited then it will be too confining and undermine the purpose of working together. On the other hand if it is all encompassing then people will be able to fit better in the culture, identify where they have commonality with each other, and know places to avoid so not to create unnecessary conflict.
Having a set number of values that everyone, must live by; can limit the inventiveness and flexibility of a corporate culture; defeating the purpose of strengthening the organization.
Barney Feinbergof NY1:22PM October 05, 2010
There is nothing wrong with values statements being edicts from on high, AS LONG AS the dudes on high actually have some moral grounding.
You (a consultant) can call for the mid-level folks to have drafting-committee meetings literally for years to produce something they hope might be nearly as good as the Sermon on the Mount, but if the CEO and the Board didn't buy it first and agree to live by it, the "team" is just going to be disappointed, then probably fired in the next "overhaul". Most businesses are not a band of firefighters. A few of them have true heroes as leaders. Many of them don't.
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Barney Feinberg of NY 1:22PM October 05, 2010
Muser of NM 9:28PM October 02, 2010