Why define corporate Values - and how?

Values are the things we feel strongly about and believe in passionately. They guide our actions and our decisions. We are highly motivated - driven if you like - to take action on things which support our values. They can be compared to the engine in a car.

Organisation Values are harder to grasp as a concept. Sometimes they exist naturally - for instance when like-minded individuals start a pressure group, or a charity. But with larger, complex organisations, values need to be explored and defined.

Why define them? Often in response to change. New market conditions, new expectations or a desire to dramatically increase performance.

How do they work? They can influence all aspects of an organisation's operation - dealing with customers, performance management, learning, recruitment and so on. They are a great way to pull people together.

Big difficulty number 1: Unless they genuinely influence behaviour (top management behaviour change is most important) they will be seen as irrelevant.

Big difficulty number 2: People see them as an attempt to change the values held by individual members of staff. They say this is impossible. It is, and that's not the point. The point is not to meddle with peoples' personalities, but to make a clear statement - 'this is the way it will be here, in the future - if you want to be part of it - fine'.

Case Study - defining Values of a major public body
Recently we helped the Natural History Museum in London develop a set of values to underpin their 10-year Vision. This was not an easy task! The Museum is a mix of exhibition-oriented staff, whose goals are to educate and entertain the public, and science research staff, whose key interest is the advancement of systematic species identification and world biodiversity. These subcultures work differently and do not mix easily, especially when deciding how things should be managed.
We brought the senior people together from all areas, initially at director level, then heads of departments. We were able to blend the traditional strengths of the Museum with the more commercial approaches required by external stakeholders. This we pulled together into a set of four top-level values, each supported by defined sets of behaviours implied by them. To date, these values have made a positive impact on senior-level recruitment, appraisal system, leadership development, cross-functional project work - and are entering general conversation all over the institution!