Team Values Applied Well Will Improve Performance

The shape of any organization is dictated by the team values held and acted upon by the leadership team. It is through watching their leaders in action that people get their greatest clues about the behaviors that are critical to the organization's success ... not those ever-present (and a waste of space) cards, brochures and wall hangings that organization's seem to rely upon.

If they see you doing things such as:

• Fudging your expenses, or
• Rewarding a buyer with a huge bonus for improving the bottom line ... by taking unfair advantage of a supplier, or
• Allowing people who do not live the espoused values get away with poor behavior

then the people in your business get the message loud and clear about what is acceptable... and required to get ahead around here .

Team values Shape Your Organizational Culture.

The only difference between the performance of any two organizations' is their culture. You can place two businesses side by side with exactly the same equipment and opportunities and one will always outperform the other and that is simply because of its culture.

A Not So Shining Example

Around 2004 Coca Cola spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in bringing together their top 150 executives to develop a new manifesto for change. Out of all these hours of work they came up with their "Shared Values": Leadership, Passion, Integrity, Accountability, Collaboration, Innovation and Quality. They wrote their values and vision up in books, spent many more hundreds of hours sharing these values in team meetings and in training sessions where the meaning of the values were explored by all team members in the company.

That all sounds really good doesn't it?

The problem is that in 2006 Muhtar Kent was appointed COO and was announced as the successor to the then CEO, Neville Isdell (in 2008 Kent became CEO and Chairman).

How does that all impact on values you are wondering?

In my view this appointment provides a classic example of how an organization hasn't used their announced values to drive their choices. Let's take a look at why Kent's appointment may not have been the best choice if the Coca Cola company had been applying their Values.

In 1996 Kent was found guilty of insider trading on the Australian Stock Market. Coke and Kent have tried to pass this off as a small mistake on his behalf - and Kent to this day says he did no wrong (even though he paid a fine and repaid all the profits he made ... which you have to wonder if they are the actions of an innocent).

No senior executive on this planet is unaware that buying and selling shares ahead of profit announcements is at best unethical, but in most countries in the world illegal ... so this, from my perspective is NOT a small mistake. It is illegal and unethical - and something I wouldn't want my CEO to be a party to ... especially if I truly wanted the values of Integrity and Accountability to be followed by the people in my business!

In this instance what Coke did was to signal to their people that profits (which is what Kent is known to deliver - and in the decision he made to trade his personal shares ahead of a profit announcement - it was his personal profits that were more important to him than the organization's welfare) is more important than integrity.

Yes we shouldn't condemn people forever for mistakes they make ... however, given that Coke is one of the biggest companies in the world, with a reach that is global both in terms of finances and community influence ... you seriously have to question if, in this instance, from a values, integrity, accountability perspective this was the best choice. Do a Google search on 'Coca Cola culture' and see what people, who have left the company in recent years, are saying about their leadership. You have to wonder if they could be delivering much better results if they truly lived their values!

Make no mistake - developing team values is not a waste of space - the best organizations ... without fail ... have strong cultures intimately revolving around their values.

And, if you look at the trail of failed and poor performing organizations you will see again and again that their common feature is that their cultures are weak and don't keep to a strong values system: Enron, Arthur Andersen, Worldcomm, Martha Stewart are just a few examples.

Of course, an individual's values should be closely aligned to the organization's values. People who spend time getting clear about their personal mission in life are generally more energized and happier! Simply because they are very clear about the type of organization they wish to align themselves with. These people are often high performers and they simply won't work with you if they don't feel your organization's values ... and that means the ones you actually act upon - not the ones that are hanging on your walls - aren't a close match to their own.

The Steps To Take When Developing Team Values

1. Imagine you are starting your business up again. Brainstorm all the behaviours, qualities, characteristics, feelings you would want your new team members to have. (Your group will probably come up with a list of 50+ words)

   Here are a few examples: Leadership, Teamwork, Technical Competency, Ability to Learn, Initiative, Integrity, Open Communication, Fun

2. Your group should then pare this list down to the core 6-8 values that the business will use to guide its decision-making.

   Values are universal. We all know what makes for a good life - be it personally or organizationally. So, when developing team values don't be surprised that your list is very similar to hundreds of other companies. There will be one or two in your list that make your team uniquely you!

   (Hint, don't just go for the values that get the most votes. Sometimes a value that someone has put up, but others didn't think of at the time, maybe just perfect for your team)

3. Then for each value each team members should answer these three questions:

• Describe what ... (insert the value) ... means to you

• Describe the behaviours you believe will demonstrate this behaviour

• Describe the results that will follow by people having/using this Value

Click here to review an example of this activity using the value of Willing and Able To Learn

It is important that ALL team members have the chance to take part in Step 3 of this exercise. If you don't, you won't get buy in. When team members are given the time to discuss and ponder the meaning of a value and how it will be applied in their day to day they will be more committed to seeing to it that the value is used.

A Mistake To Avoid When Developing Team Values

When developing team values, please do not make the mistake of putting profit as a value - it is not a value it is a goal! Every business must make money (even non-profits) to survive - just like you and I need oxygen to survive. But oxygen and profits are not the reason for existence. As Jim Collins discussed in his ground-breaking book Good to Great the most successful companies did not focus primarily on profits - they stood for something bigger - yet because of this they were highly profitable.

Use Values to Create Guiding Principles

Once you have listed your team values, it is time to create your guiding principles.