Shared Values

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These difficult times tend to make people better or bitter. The CNMI is going through a crucible experience with events that are causing people to reflect on their core assumptions at an emotional level. Some of the assumptions that have worked well in the past are no longer valid; whereas, some assumptions will continue to guide the decisions and actions of individuals.
It’s important to periodically evaluate our decision-making processes and the underlying values that influence us, particularly if something isn’t working as planned. This is true as an individual, family, organization, or a community. Individuals and organizations tend to drift during times of confusion and chaos. Periodically examining your values serves to renew commitment for values that are deeply shared and promote discussion on the relevance of those values that no longer serve the interests of the organization or its constituents. If the organization is not making a positive impact, then it may be time to make some changes.
I’ve been reading about individuals who have focused on their values to overcome challenges, become better leaders, and are able to transform their organization to create an empowered culture. Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay) helped Zappos, a shoe company, grow from almost nothing to over $1 billion in gross merchandize sales annually. In the beginning, Hsieh resisted developing values for the company because he thought of it as a very “corporate” thing to do, and he wanted to maintain a more informal culture. However, as the company grew, it became necessary to formalize the definition of Zappos’ culture by getting everyone’s input to come up with its core values.
Initially, there were 37 values that helped define Zappos, but over the course of a year those were whittled down to the ten most important core values that they were willing to hire and fire on. As the company grew larger and faster, their values helped screen applicants that fit with their culture. Zappos conducts two different sets of interviews, the standard interview to determine the applicant’s relevant experience and technical ability, and then an interview by the HR department to examine the culture fit. Candidates have to pass both interviews in order to get hired.
Another gentleman by the name of Gordon Binder, the former CEO of Amgen, tells about the time when a middle manager took the initiative to define the company’s values. Binder decided it was too great for him to do alone and got the entire company involved. After interviewing 400 people, it was determined that Amgen, a biotechnology company, had eight core values that everything was based on, including their culture. Binder believes that process to clarify the company’s values “was the most important thing we ever did.” People are hired on the basis of their values, those who live by them are promoted, and individuals who act out of line with the values are fired.
Shared values are just as important for a small company as they are for larger ones. An organization’s values are the collective principles and ideals that guide an organization’s thoughts and actions as a team. Values are critical because they define the collective character of the firm and serve as decision guidelines. They provide the parameters for the hundreds of decisions we make every day. Values not only let a company know what they should do, but just as importantly, values help determine what a firm stands for and what it will not stand for under any circumstance.
In a four-year study by John Kotter and John Heskett, involving nine to ten firms in each of twenty industries, they discovered that firms with a strong corporate culture based on a foundation of shared values outperformed their competitors by a huge margin: their revenue grew more than four times faster; their rate of job creation was seven times higher; their stock price grew twelve times faster, and their profit performance was 750 percent higher.
Your organization’s shared values are not just some well-chosen words printed on a placard and hung on your walls. They are the unifying principles that you most care about, and they should come from the beliefs that are inside each individual. For people to understand the values and agree to them, they must participate in the process. Consensus about values encourages consistent implementation throughout the organization.
If you haven’t identified your core values, then take the time to develop them. Determine what beliefs and principles you are absolutely committed to live by now and in the future. The challenges we are facing can help solidify our guiding values and foster teamwork and esprit de corps. Challenges offer the opportunities for greatness, if one is ready for the moment and has a solid foundation built on shared core values.