Our values underwrite our motives, and are, in essence, what drive, inspire and get us out of bed in the mornings. So how about your organisation’s values? Do they drive you; inspire you and insight the same passion as your personal values?
We know organisational values shape the vision and culture of an organisation, whilst underwriting its standards. For many of us, particularly in large organisations, we are handed a lanyard, small palm size card or some other memory prompt with a list of values on it. That is generally accompanied by some further understanding of their intention and purpose, either through induction training, your immediate manager or HR.
How effective is this process? Is the person presenting the values convincing moreover, do they walk the walk, or are they simply talking the talk? What if the company’s values are divergent to your own? Are you still willing to do go to work every day and participate, doing the best job possible or will you simply just show up and go along for the ride?
One of the keys to the questions above lies with recruiting. Consider the savvy jobseeker; they carefully consider whether their values align with that of the organisation before submitting a job application. What would happen if organisations followed suit? What would be the benefit? The answer is simple. Job satisfaction, staff engagement and productivity would all increase, ensuring a better overall return on investment.
So what should you do? Consider your own values, and the next time you are at work look at your organisation’s values and see if there is alignment or not. It may just give the answer to why you look forward to either Mondays or Fridays!