Values - pretty phrases on a website, or something more?

Have you ever thought about your own values? Do you know the values of your organisation? Do they even exist?

It is said that values are the foundation and basis for all activities. In an organisation, values and mission together answer the question Why. Research shows that knowing your values makes it easier to prioritise and make decisions. People who know and embrace their values are also more committed and motivated. Very often the values of an organisation are written on a poster on the office wall or on the organisation's website. A good start, but it is not enough. Values only become visible and realised through action and practice.

To make values visible in more than just clichéd phrases, you need to be able to articulate them in action and behaviour. This provides the organisation with a value base on which to act. And to get all members of the organisation on board with a common way of doing things, there needs to be a discussion about values within the organisation. Individuals may share the same values, but they may also be interpreted differently. Therefore, a discussion about values and their meanings is important and necessary. It is important for each of us to first weigh up our own values and then mirror them against the values of the organisation. In this way, individuals will find meaningful relationships, which in turn have a major impact on motivation.

In the midst of all the hustle and bustle, it would be good to find time in the calendar for reflection and self-reflection. How were my own and the organisation's values reflected in my actions and behaviour? Do I experience conflicts of values in my work? Do I have a pattern of behaviour that I would like to change? What can I do to reflect my values even more in my work? Self-reflection is hard and consuming, but at its best it leads individuals to new insights and creativity.

The leader of an organisation has a big role to play in bringing values to the fore. Pretty words on the home page or on the office wall are still not enough; values must be reflected in the leadership itself. How the organisation gives feedback, what the recruitment processes are like or how people are rewarded. It is important for a leader to know the people he or she is leading. Therefore, discussions are needed with the people being managed to discuss how the values are reflected at individual, team and organisational level. In the big picture, it is about how the whole organisation runs, what is prioritised, how individuals and teams work and how people are doing.

Acting on values and making them visible is a goal that everyone in the organisation can contribute to. Returning to the beginning of the text and the question: when was the last time you discussed your own or your organisation's values with your colleagues?

HannaMarkkanen

The author is a recent president of the Youth Centre of Finland and is not afraid to show her values.