Who has not, at some point, ordered a number 4 from the drive-thru window, and then regretted it? Who has not at some point purchased an expensive new outfit and wondered if they were spending their money well? Who has not at some point said they had no change while walking, pockets full of quarters, on the way to the Laundromat? Who at some point parented in a way that they said they never would?
As individuals we often behave in a way that is not aligned with our values or desires.
When this dissonance between values and behavior is experienced at the individual level, the consequences may be limited to ourselves or a handful of those around us. But when an organization has prolonged periods of dissonance between their values and their behavior the consequences can hurt many inside and outside the organization.
We have many examples in the news today. VW, winner of many “green awards”, admitted to installing software in over 11 million of their diesel engine cars that was designed to cheat emission tests. Amazon, a once sought after employer, continues to be exposed for the relentless and inhumane expectations on their employees. For years we have heard the stories of Wall Street’s short-sightedness and negligence costing the American middle class. All of these stories point to the gap between organizational values and behaviors.
As individuals we frequently experience the dissonance between behavior and values. If we are honest with ourselves we understand that no one is perfectly ethical all of the time. And yet many of us desire to be and we certainly expect the organizations, whose potential impact on others is so far reaching, to adhere to their values.
So how then can we diagnose the causes of dissonance and close the gap personally and organizationally? Here are four reasons we believe our behavior and our values may not fit.
You never defined your values
Many companies, believing that values are a sacrosanct part of organizational life, spend millions developing campaigns to tout teamwork, innovation, diversity, respect, integrity, customer service, simplicity, etc. – only to find that beyond the glitzy campaigns, they don’t mean much. Originality of values means far less than applicability. Typically when organizations create core values, there is a desire to set things up in a very general way. The general values create generic behavior. If you do a good job of defining your values then it should be easy to define the behaviors that exemplify them. Then you have a clear sense of how you are to behave.
Values are not a part of your culture
Many of Wall Street’s largest institutions have been bailed out after the 2008 collapse. But many insiders are now less concerned with another financial crisis and more focused on the crisis of values on Wall Street. Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens recently hit the nail on the head when he said, “you can’t legislate for culture or character.” So how then do values become a part of the culture? Senior leaders must discuss their own personal values and the evolution of their values. By sharing your own values (and dissonance between your behavior and them) it makes it okay for an organization to grow and learn in relation to their values.
Values did not drive decisions
Once our values are defined clearly we should be able to hire to it, promote to it, evaluate to it, reward to it, and fire to it. But what many employees are watching for is just how many hall passes are issued to violators of the values because of some other value they bring – they are top salespeople, or brilliant scientists – some other “value” that trumps holding them accountable for the behaviors everyone else is expected to live by. If you want your values to really matter, you have to root them in all organizational decisions. For a company’s values to feel integral to the lifeblood of the organization, they have to be built that way – central to how the organization competes. Whether it is a promotion, an acquisition, a venture round, or an office relocation, all decisions should be articulated by how they fit the organization’s values.
Values were not reinforced with metrics
VW, who stated “sustainability” as a primary value, understood that emissions scores were an important indicator of their success. What they did not seem to understand was that another core value, “responsibility,” went beyond environmental means and should have most definitely included their customers. This scenario highlights the importance of measurement. Emissions tests have quantitative scores. Responsibility to customers is more difficult to track. We value what we measure. If any of our organizations are going to grow in the congruence of their values and behavior, we are going to need creative metrics to measure our behavior.
Our organizations will inevitably find themselves at that proverbial drive-thru window. Neither defining our values nor adhering to them is easy. But if leaders are willing to admit that there is dissonance and work like crazy to eliminate it, we will find the impact of our organizations on all of its stakeholders will be positive rather than catastrophic.