The Foundation of a Healthy Culture

Values are the intangible qualities that are important to people. A person’s values affect their relationships, how they spend their time, what they focus on, how they think about their work and the decisions they make. Like personal values, organizational values determine priorities and drive decisions. Alignment of personal values with a common set of your core credit union values helps people work together better to achieve goals. A culture based on values, like those that encourage trust, promote teamwork, inspire innovation, are member-focused and support employee growth, will engage the workforce and are proven to positively affect productivity and profitability.

But actions speak louder than words. Declared values don’t matter much unless leadership actually lives them. According to a University of Chicago Booth School of Business study, 80% of S&P 500 companies listed their values on their websites. Not surprisingly, they included innovation (80%), integrity (70%), respect (70%), quality (60%) and teamwork (50%). Yet, in “The Value of Corporate Culture” by Luigi Zingales et al, Booth researchers tell us the types of values listed were not correlated with better performance. What mattered for profitability was that employees saw that their leaders used stated values to guide decisions. Companies performed measurably better when the employees felt “management’s actions matched their words” and “management is honest and ethical in its business practices.”

Unfortunately, Gallup reports only 27% of employees strongly believe in their company’s values, and only 23% feel they can apply them regularly in their work. These dismal statistics and Booth’s research highlight that, at too many companies, a disconnect exists between stated values and the values driving decisions. But it’s critical to a healthy culture that actions match words. So, when actions don’t align with stated values, management must have the courage to unearth the real principles that are guiding how decisions are made and take action.

An experienced and trusted outside party can benefit management in this journey. The advisor is able to help identify the actual underlying qualities driving policies and decisions. If stated values do not align with the principles upon which decisions are actually made, then either the stated values or the decision-making must be re-evaluated. In either case, a trusted advisor can assist leadership in this process. Smart CEOs are retaining independent, experienced governance and leadership coaches to support and guide their actions and decision-making to strengthen their strategic success.

It’s essential to have clarity on the values actually in operation to understand how best to manage the organizational culture. Any program addressing core values must take into account all organizational levels. Values alignment at the senior level is a must so that there is consistency that filters through the organization’s culture.

Once organizational values are clearly identified, and there is general agreement they will be consistently used in decision-making pursuant to mission, leaders still need data to assess and manage the culture. Digital surveys and even smartphone apps can provide virtually continuous and accurate measurement of essential elements of the organizational culture, particularly values. Management can see where the organization is at any given point in time. Indeed, essential elements of the culture are an important component of the CEO dashboard. These measurements provide guidance on the culture’s status and progress. Leadership is also able to identify misalignments quickly so that corrections can be made.

A major medical center client had stated values of high-quality patient centric care, integrity, continuous learning and teamwork. Leadership was front and center in demonstrating what a commitment to these values looked like in their day-to-day decisions and actions, both for themselves and for the staff. Values alignment was reflected in budgets, job descriptions, compensation, learning programs and employee recognition. Learning programs were designed to give all call center employees the tools to provide better patient service. Training began with the “why” of the job as well as organizational mission and values. Role play and other exercises gave the employees a real sense of how organizational values and decisions became aligned. Measurement tools including employee and patient surveys tracked progress. Clarity of mission and values, a guiding force for decision-making, had a major positive impact on patient service and satisfaction. Living organizational values made the difference where it counted, with the patient benefitting.

The example above of the health care organization is applicable to financial services as well.  When leadership embraces the establishment and communication of values and lives by them, the organization benefits, as do its customers. Aligned and productive employees lead to significant value being created in the marketplace.

Stuart R. Levine is Chairman and CEO for Stuart Levine & Associates and EduLeader LLC. He can be reached at 516-465-0800 or slevine@stuartlevine.com.