FEATURE
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EXTERNAL CONTRIBUTORS
You can't be what you can’t see
Adam Rowledge, general manager at the Georgian House hotel, explains why it is important
to ensure that your business has the right values to reflect the culture in your organisation
T
ake a look at this list of corporate which is what causes the disparity between not, it will ultimately lead not only not
values: Communication. Respect. reality and aspiration. being an engaged member of the team
Integrity. Excellence. They sound
In order to ensure that your business
but becoming actively disengaged which
pretty good, don’t they? Strong, concise, has the right values to reflect the culture can lead to personal discontent as well as
meaningful. Maybe they even resemble your in your organisation and that these values being very much to the detriment of the
own company’s values, the ones you spent drive the behaviours you desire to achieve team and the business.
so much time writing, debating, and revising. your vision it’s important to think about If so, you should be nervous. These are these key factors:
Reality vs. aspiration
I once asked the managing director of a
the corporate values of Enron, as stated in
the company’s 2000 annual report. And as Be aggressively authentic company that I was considering working
events have shown, they’re not meaningful; For a values statement to be authentic, it for to tell me about the core values of the
they’re meaningless as the company ended doesn’t have to sound like it belongs on a business, he said “speed and efficiency”
up being one of the biggest corporate greeting card. Indeed, some of the most without hesitation. So I asked him what
bankruptcies in history due to fraud. values-driven companies adhere to tough, that looked like in terms of managing
if not downright controversial, values. The quality in such a complex and varied
suggest that these particular values are values of an organisation should reflect environment, his reply was: “Well at the
meaningless, in fact three of them are part what it really stands for so that employees moment we’re too slow and spending too
of the core values at Georgian House (the and customers alike understand what much time managing processes, which is
other two being Growth and One team they will be getting from that business. why we need to make speed and efficiency
- one vision). Clearly however, there is a From an employee perspective it’s our core values.”
disconnect in some businesses between fundamental to ensure that the values of the values on their website or company the business that you’re working for are at underlying many values initiatives. Far from
handbook and what is evidenced in the real least aligned, if not completely reflective being a core value, a sense of urgency
world, that disconnect is called behaviour of your own personal values. If they are didn’t even exist in the organisation. It was
Now I’m not for a second trying to
That response reveals the confusion
just an aspiration - a goal for the future.
Too often, when values are written they do
not truly reflect the culture of the business
as it stands which leads to confusion and
makes them meaningless to the team.
Own the process
It’s paramount for colleagues from all
areas of an organisation to be involved in
writing the values to ensure that they are
lived and breathed, by taking an inclusive
approach you are much more likely to
reflect the true values of your organisation
and embed them in the culture. Too often,
companies hand off the effort to the HR
department, which uses the initiative as
Purple Profiles
24
www.hotelowner.co.uk
an excuse for an inclusive feel-good effort
May 2019