There is no there for values and culture

Values and culture projects (or whatever label you give them) often begin with questions of better. After all, values are ‘how we do things around here’, and culture is an outcome of what those things are when repeated.

Still, the project approach to the work instils a false idea that there is an end. The reality I shared in that first session is “there is no there”. Sorry to bear the bad news. You are never done. There is no island of perfect principles, ethical nirvana or shining kingdom on the horizon to magically arrive at.

Alongside the org identity bedfellow of purpose, the work of values and culture is a continuing effort. And that is both good and bad news

It’s bad news because people in orgs love projects. They love ticking the done box and moving on. It’s the way too many values and culture projects happen.

Assemble a group.

Hold a few workshops.

Maybe follow up with a survey.

Write up some comely statements.

Test them with a broader group.

Water them down a bit further, so the language offends as few people as possible.

Put them on a poster, intranet and website, maybe send out an “our new values” announcement.

Go back to business as usual and only refer to them in presentations and off-sites.

Then the whole process starts again.

Even those with the best intentions can derail, sliding back to past ways of doing things, because the process I described above isn’t the work. Parts of it are useful because deep work to understand how you do things around here is essential, but it’s only the first step.

Which is the good news.

Imagine now, instead of a box-ticking exercise where values stand apart from how we do things; the work turbocharges and challenges them.

Here is a useful model outlining five stages of values work to take you beyond a project:

1. I know what our values are.
2. I know what our values mean.
3. I know how to use our values in my day-to-day work.
4. I use our values even when it is inconvenient.
5. I encourage others to do the same.

Where does your org sit? Sadly, even those will well-evolved views on values will tend to max out before the third rung, and in my experience, most don’t even make it that far.

For organisations to extend beyond what values mean requires a practice, not a project. Which requires an entirely different approach. What that looks like is beautifully captured by Aikido instructor George Leonard:

“Ultimately, practice is the path of mastery. If you stay on it long enough, you’ll find it to be a vivid place, with its ups and downs, is challenges and comforts, its surprises, disappointments, and unconditional joys. You’ll take your share of bumps and bruises while travelling – bruises of the ego as well as of the body, mind and spirit – but it might well turn out to be the most reliable thing in your life. Then, too, it might eventually make you a winner in your chosen field, if that’s what you’re looking for, and then people will refer to you as a master. But that’s not really the point.

What is mastery? At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path.

What an alluring proposition, to liberate values and culture from whims and wiles to a place of organisational mastery.

Treating the deep work of understanding how you do things as merely a beginning is central to achieving the goal. Go beyond the statements and posters and root out the boundaries of the behaviours which mark your values. What aren’t they? When do they go too far? Build habits and processes to continue their accomplishment. Track your progress to guard against erosion. And revisit and adapt when the path zig zags.

When people can apply the values in their day-to-day work. When they are a standard you hold, not words you recite. When they are a measure of accountability you share. Then you’ve reached that last rung.

That’s the work which generates a flourishing culture. And that is why there is no there