The bedrock of an organisation’s culture is its core values. When put into action, these values become the behaviours that shape the organisation’s environment and identity. Consistently practising these behaviours leads to a cohesive and robust culture, essentially making culture a product of values and demonstrated behaviours. This underscores the crucial need to not only articulate values but also deeply embed them into the organisation’s daily practices.
In their book Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras provide comprehensive insights into how visionary companies have enduring core values that shape their cultures. They found that companies with deeply ingrained core values are more resilient and outperform their competitors over the long term.
However, it is not enough to just state these values. Organisations must actively encourage, promote, and reward behaviours that align with their core values. When such behaviours are recognised and rewarded, they become ingrained in the organisational fabric, reinforcing the desired culture. This not only fosters a sense of purpose and belonging among employees but also enhances the company’s performance and reputation. Companies like Zappos and Google are known for their strong cultures reflecting their core values. Zappos emphasises customer service and employee happiness, and it translates these values into actions by empowering employees to go beyond for customers and fostering a fun, supportive work environment.
On the contrary, tolerating behaviours and actions that contradict espoused values can harm the intended culture. This tolerance creates a gap between stated values and actual practices, leading to employee confusion, disengagement, and mistrust. The resulting cynicism and disengagement can significantly harm organizational performance and reputation, underscoring the importance of upholding core values. For instance, if an organization claims to prioritize integrity but overlooks unethical practices, it sends a conflicting message that erodes the cultural foundation.
Another important aspect of culture building is leadership behaviour. Research by Edgar Schein highlights that the actions and decisions of leadership shape culture. Leaders play a crucial role in demonstrating and reinforcing the core values through their behaviour. When leaders consistently model the desired behaviours, it sets a precedent for the rest of the organisation.
In essence, culture is a function of values and behaviour.
C=f(v,b)
Values, when translated into desired action or behaviour, create culture. So, values are not just words put on posters, banners, and websites. It requires consistent efforts to translate them into well-thought-out actions that are drilled deep into the organisation.
