Incorporating Values into Your Organization
What exactly does incorporating values into your organization look like? And more importantly, why does it have value? This is best illustrated with a few examples.
Example 1:
A small not-for-profit in Philadelphia provides family therapy in their community. In 2008, they were fortunate to receive a large grant that enabled them to update their technology. They purchased everything from a phone system to a networked computer system.
One item that was being considered was adding the ability to keep the main entrance way locked and to ‘buzz in’ families as they arrived. As the management team began to debate whether this was a wise way to spend the grant, the first question asked was if this was consistent with their stated values which includes creating “a welcoming environment where clients are seen in a family setting rather than a clinical medical model.”
This one question made it very easy for the management team to quickly decide that adding a ‘buzz in’ system was not consistent with how they wanted to be perceived by the community. It saved not only discussion time, but also the potential of wasting money by installing and then not using the system.
Example 2:
Farmer Thad, my husband and proprietor of Jett’s Produce has identified his company’s values. The very first value is to “Provide superior quality products.”
One fall day, Farmer Thad was at an auction to purchase fall ornamentals. On this particular day, the auction was jammed with merchandise and Thad was overwhelmed with the volume, variety and low prices. He called me on the phone asking me for advice on what to do.
Because I was 50 miles away, there wasn’t a great deal that I could do to help. Instead, I asked him to review Jett’s Produce’s core values. This provided him with the clarity to realize that he was only interested in bidding on products that were of superior quality; he was not interested in bidding on products solely because they were going cheaply.
These are just two brief examples of how an organization’s values can provide guidance when you or your employees are faced with life’s daily challenges.
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