Values are core when they guide every decision, the way we conduct our business and build our relationships at work. We are most likely to have a successful organization if all are aligned around its purpose and philosophy by living its Core Values.
Top leaders know the power of strong values in forming the core of an organization in support of achieving its vision. They use Core Values to better guide and motivate their team members and to convey the message to their customers as to who they are as an organization, a clear, "this is how we do things here!”
It has become standard in our strategic planning process with our clients that we help them identify their Core Values and related behaviours. We guide them in exploring the extent to which current beliefs are aligned with the desired Core Values and how the beliefs of each individual might need to change to enable all to live by the Core Values.
More and more I reflect on our Growth Facilitators' Core Values FUN, LOVE, RESPECT and DISCIPLINE and how we live by them when looking for a “real life” example for our clients.
I believe where the leader is the founder of the organization, his or her core values most likely, consciously or unconsciously, become the Core Values of the organization. My real life example is the partners of GF, Marguerite and Robert. To me, Marguerite exemplifies our Core Values LOVE and FUN, and she and Robert are advocates in living these values.
LOVE - We at GF “nurture our Human Garden”. We look out for each other and support each other in our development, and when times get rough, at home or at work, i.e. sickness, children’s needs, broken down cars, deadlines with clients, pick ups from schools or airports and new born puppies. We are sad or happy together when reading the news in the morning. We share the fruit from our gardens and the food from our kitchens. We show empathy to those who get in contact with us, and we support schools and principals in their strategic planning via our Breakthrough programme.
FUN - We live in a colourful office. We celebrate birthdays, events, or achievements, usually with delicious cakes! Together we enjoy a good laugh, a football match, a cooking course in raw food, take on challenges such as being “Free and Laughing” at all times! Our smiley stickers and gift items, rewarded to those workshop participants who live our workshop values, are legendary with our clients.
RESPECT - We show mutual respect for one another and for our clients by listening and taking all concerns raised seriously and addressing them. We support each other in our personal development and in ventures outside the organization.
And how about DISCIPLINE - Here there is room for improvement, in how we organize ourselves, our evolution meetings, our time management and internal processes. I am reported to be the most disciplined in the team, reflecting my German upbringing. I would like to believe this, but have to admit that I have adapted to the cultural laxness on discipline in Jamaica. I may commit to challenge my team members more because I care about our effectiveness and efficiency and would like to support us to make discipline FUN! But am I really committed to taking on the challenge?
Do we choose a Core Value because we believe in it or because we want to behave more like this? I do believe we have chosen DISCIPLINE because we see a value in it and would like to achieve more of it. This is our challenge to us, let’s truly work on our beliefs and behaviours by asking ourselves: Why do we want to live DISCIPLINE and how?
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Having left corporate life I am unqualified to comment on the core values as the basis for success in business (whatever that means), but I am struck by the similarity of the values to what are (to me as an English Anglican) mainstream Christian values. Love : we are enjoined to "love one another", and Respect flows from Love. It is through Discipline that we are able to recognise and resist temptation in all its forms, from the more extreme forms of sin to simply the urge not to get up in the morning and do one's best for one's client, one's colleagues, oneself or one's God (not necessarily in that order). Fun is questionable. CS Lewis, the English academic and Christian convert, who wrote the Narnia books for children, cites in "The Screwtape Letters" Joy as the most greatly valued source of laughter among Christians. He seems to suggest (my words not his) that both Joy and Fun are the icing that God puts on the cake that we have worked hard to bake, but in this context would see Joy as flowing most directly from Love and Respect. Maybe the difference is that we can experience Joy as a state of mind, while Fun implies that we are actively engaged in something that might perhaps be a distraction from our duty (OK, very Protestant-Work-Ethic). Maybe Fun is what you have as your light relief along the way, but Joy is what you aspire to and is your earthly reward. Keep on baking the cakes!
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