If you have ever played mixies with a child you will know what fun it is to create characters that obviously don’t fit together. A bear head with a clown middle and a zoo keeper’s feet can keep children in stitches for hours.
Unfortunately mixies are not so much fun when they happen inside organisations. For instance, if an organisation’s strategy is outward and customer focused, but the organisational structure is bureaucratic and silo’d, with people used to having the whip cracked when they dare to innovate or think outside the box, this is a recipe for disaster.
Alignment is critical for success in organisations. Transformation programmes that succeed need to look at ensuring alignment across all the aspects of the business.
A crucial part of this is looking at the group culture – which is often difficult to talk about and even more difficult to measure. It is also vital that the leadership of the organisation is authentic in the way that they behave and that they too are aligned with the culture of the organisation.
At the heart of an organisation’s culture are its lived values. These values are sometimes very different from the values that are emblazoned on its walls. If an organisation can…
• take the time to look at the values it espouses,
• reflect on where there are now gaps in the way it behaves
• commit to take actions to reduce the value gap
…then the organisation would be taking some key steps towards alignment, and this should lead to better individual and organisational performance, increased stakeholder and customer satisfaction and higher employee engagement.
So close your values gap by participating in the Values Challenge on World Values Day – 19 October 2017.
About The Author
Joy Rees is a Certified Practitioner and Trainer for the Barrett Values Centre, with experience in creating a community of change practitioners who are curious, imaginative, adaptive, innovative and collaborative.
Resources
- Read more about the Barrett Values Centre
- Read the next blog in the series, by Alan Williams of Service Brand Global
- Participate in the Values Challenge this year! Follow these links for organisations, for community groups, for schools, or for individuals.
- For more inspiration, follow us on social media: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
