Values are useless.

There, we got past the obligatory clickbait together and can calmly proceed with a point of view.

What has confused me for years is the unquestioning acceptance by many agencies and brands ‘that companies have values’, as if that were passed down on tablets of stone from Mount Sinek. And, what’s often worse, is what is done with them afterwards. These are rich theme so this PoV is going to stretch to more than one post.

But let’s back up.

What do we seek of achieve by writing values (and please feel free to use a synonym)?

Culture is a hugely valuable and largely uncopiable business asset. The objective of values I’d say, is to manage, limit and inspire behaviour, build and reinforce the desired culture and thereby achieve that business advantage.

So why do they not fulfil their potential?

Not untypically, ‘values users’ fall short to some degree in two major respects:

Firstly, how they are defined and written. I've identified 12 key challenges here, but there are probably more. And secondly, what they then do with them. 

TYPICAL ISSUES OF VALUE DEFINITION AND EXPRESSION

1     They are generic. Do we want to encourage a generic culture, or do we want to build a differentiated culture that will serve as brand and business advantage?

2     They describe what any decent person would do anyway. So that’s a wasted opportunity, isn’t it?

3     The opposite of the value is nonsense. “As opposed to what?” should be a universal test of all strategy.

4     They are expressed as single adjectives. Was that also written by the god of management? And still, we adhere to this doctrine even when it’s obvious that more words would provide more clarity, uniqueness and relatability.

5     They are written in ‘corporate beige’. Hands up who thinks being memorable and inspiring people are best done by the colour beige.

6     They don’t make you proud. “Last night I went home and explained to my wife that my company was customer focused and proactive.” She thanked me for being transparent. Not. There is way too little focus given to arming employees with ‘reasons to be proud’.

7     They don’t have a ‘handle’. Ever since 1990, everyone in marketing has been a storyteller, yet where are the memorable stories that make these values real and relatable?

8     They aren’t aligned with other pressures. In big organisations especially, there are many pressures on an individual from financial compliance to corporate initiatives, from performance metrics to peer pressure (all driven by different departments). It’s unfair and unwise to ask the individual employee to resolve the conflicting vectors. And if we do, they’ll each come up with their own individual answers.

9     There’s no structure to the thinking behind them. When selecting ‘value X’ to advocate, is this because we have a problem that this will address, because it will make us specially different from competitors, because it will attract talent? Nunno!

10 We have no criteria or test for them assessing them. Surely we need to see if what we have devised would actually address cultural issues or would provide guidance in relevant business and personal decisions?

11 They are actively contradicted by procedures. As consumers we experience examples of this every day. The customer service person is encouraged to be X and the script they follow when interreacting with you is driven by Y (written by a different department)

12 There are just too many of them.

As a result, values, very often add no value.

Part Two coming soon to a LinkedIn post near you.