Identifying Core Values
Most strategic planning processes use the writing of the statement of core values as the process by which they are identified. Big mistake. Write the statement only after you’ve identified your true values. If you are focused on writing the statement you will be influenced by how your values sound to others and you will instead come up with a marketing statement (more on this later).
So how do we identify our true core values? We start by being brutally honest with ourselves. Can we admit that, for us, customer service 
is a necessary evil? Or that we will make promises we know we can’t keep for the sake of expediency or a temporary fix? Are we okay with mediocre quality if it gets us high profits? Being honest with ourselves is necessary so that we can then craft a meaningful and successful strategic plan. The plan will be focused on things we will really do and not on things that just sound nice.
We need to see our values clearly if we are to have functional organizations. Dysfunctional organizations are almost always caused by leaders saying one thing and doing another. While this is a drastic oversimplification, leaders mess up their organization if they don’t walk their talk.
This is not an easy or intuitive process. If we find it too difficult to see ourselves for what we are, we can go to the experts: our employees, customers and vendors. It may be useful to engage the services of an outside consultant to prepare and conduct surveys of stakeholders to determine what values are visible to others. If an outside consultant is not viable, consider the following method designed by Tom Connellan of the Connellan Group Inc. (tomconnellan.com).
1. Make a copy of your corporate value and a copy of corporate value statements from three other companies. Remove the company names from all documents.
2. Take these lists to a random cross section of your employees and ask “Which of these corporate value statements best describes our company’s actions?” “Which least describes our company?”
3. Also ask several suppliers.
4. Also ask several customers.
5. Each time, as seeming afterthought, ask each group “By the way, do you happen to recognize which – if any – of these is actually ours?”
Chances are that “none of your suppliers, none of your customers, and very, very few of your employees will be able to tell the difference between Enron’s corporate values, your corporate values, and the values of any other random company.”
What does this mean to you? “Three things,” says Connellan.
1. Most corporate value statements are virtually indistinguishable from each other.
2. Actions are what count – not what’s on paper.
3. If there’s a disconnect between what you say is important and what people do, you need to fix that right away. Rather than building a series of rules, build a series of examples. People learn from examples and role models – not from a list of words.
Tom Connellan wrote: “what you say you want, what you really want, and what you reward all have to be in alignment. Too many companies… reward employees who perform well but don’t adhere to corporate values.” We need to be honest about what we really want.
So what do we do when we’ve got an authentic list of our core values? We’ll cover that topic in the next post in the series. Until then, I leave you with a statement from the web site of this dysfunctional organization:
‘In an era of faceless organizations owned by other equally faceless organizations, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC harks back to an earlier era in the financial world: The owner’s name is on the door. Clients know that Bernard Madoff has a personal interest in maintaining the unblemished record of value, fair-dealing, and high ethical standards that has always been the firm’s hallmark.’
– Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC website
