Around this time last year we were talking about “Business Values & Company Culture: Why Have Them and How to Define Them”. At the end of the blog, we promised to go on and explain how to make those sacred values operational- so here we are!
Assuming you’ve already put in the work of redefining your company values and culture, we’re now going to walk you through announcing and explaining your new core business values to your organisation. We’ll also be talking about how to encourage buy-in and uptake among your staff so that the new values actually stick.
The Announcement
This is the obvious first step. Make sure you’re crystal clear on the changes you want to make and why, and then invite your whole staff to a single meeting (if possible).
We would recommend approaching this in the way of a team-building event. Feel free to make a lovely deck presentation, but make sure you get everyone up, involved and providing their own input.
Ideally, your staff will come away with a renewed sense of belonging and an understanding of how the new values and ideal culture will support their own ambitions. You want to help them see how their current wants and needs translate into the new values. You want and need their buy-in.
Support this with a lively, positive introduction to your new values, culture and mission statement for your entire staff. We suggest including teambuilding and ‘getting to know you’ activities.
Follow The Leader
The big announcement is done and dusted…that’s it, right? Nope.
”The eight laws of learning are explanation, demonstration, imitation, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition.
John WoodenBasketball Coach
Actions speak far louder than words, and any significant change in a company’s approach will need to be led from the front. Your staff will need to see the change in company values being lived out through the Business Owners, C-Level team and Line Managers. They must bring the values to life for the culture to embed.
Repetition is also key. And no, although a great step, having your shiny new values on the wall of the office doesn’t count! As a leader in your business, you need to talk about your new values and culture goals consistently and constantly. You need to talk about them until you’re almost sick of hearing yourself. Keep going until you start to hear your staff talking about them or acting on them unprompted.
Embedding Your Values in the Day-to-Day
We love working with Managers to bring about operational change; highlighting how your new values can underpin your standard processes. From adapting your one-to-ones to changing how you recognise and reward achievement, to tweaking how you assign work and collect ideas.
It’s vital that you incorporate the new business values at every level. They should be used as a guide for decision-making and as criteria for performance evaluations. They should form the basis of new starter training, ongoing training and your reward and recognition procedures.
Real-Time, Value-Aligned Recognition
Recognition is always a positive thing. But recognition that is centred around company values is shown to be far more appreciated by staff.
A study by SHRM and Globoforce (now WorkHuman) shows that staff respond more positively to value-based recognition vs purely performance-based recognition. They found that employees were more likely to responded “yes” to these three statements if they experienced performance-based recognition:
“Employees are satisfied with the level of recognition they receive for doing a good job”
Result for normal recognition programs: 34%
Result for value-based recognition programs: 43%
“Managers/supervisors effectively acknowledge and appreciate employees”
Result for normal recognition programs: 55%
Result for value-based recognition programs: 65%
“Employees are rewarded according to their job performance”
Result for normal recognition programs: 64%
Result for value-based recognition programs: 76%
Noticing, acknowledging and rewarding value-aligned behaviour and decision-making in real time will go a long way to embedding the new culture you want to see in your workplace. That means paying attention and being responsive.
Putting your business values front and centre in the recruitment process is a win-win situation. You’ll catch the eye of the best talent out there, drawing their attention in a crowded recruitment space. You’ll also be filtering out anyone who doesn’t align with your culture before they even apply.
The result is a great pool of candidates with less filtering out of unsuitable personalities, saving time and money. Your candidates will know exactly what kind of company they’re applying to and are therefore likely to be exactly the kind of people you want to hire and work with.
A New Approach to Recruitment
Your existing staff are all up to speed and you now have a good handle on how they’re adapting to your new values and what they development they need to help increase their alignment. But what about new staff joining the company?
As they had a key role in drawing up your new values and culture ideals, your HR team should be well-placed to hire competent talent who complement and align with the new approach.
Ensuring that every part of the process is re-focussed on the new values is key.
This includes:
- Job descriptions
- Job adverts
- Application forms
- Application requirements
- Interview style
- Interview questions
- Onboarding materials
- Onboarding process
Value-Centric 360 Feedback
Hopefully you’re already up to speed on the need for 360 feedback within your organisation, but if not, you can swot up here.
The headline benefits from a 360 Feedback Program are:
- Your staff gain a deeper insight into their own strengths and development areas
- Your managers gain a deeper insight into how the individuals assessed their own strengths and development areas
- Staff and managers, with the help of our coaches, can then structure a personalised training and development plan
- HR and management gain insight into which roles staff members are suited for, their potential to progress and their development areas (which can then be utilised for performance management)
Now that your lovely new values have been announced, embedded in your processes, and reinforced through consistent demonstration and repetition, this is a great time to run a value-centric 360 program.
MadeYou is here and ready to support you on this transformational journey. If you want to reboot your company’s core business values or create a new culture for your employees, we can help you along at every stage. Just fill in the form below to get started.
