According to Richard Barrett (2017), “Values-driven organizations are the most successful organizations on the planet”. They outperform the organizations studied in Collins book, Good to Great, and outperform the S&P 500 Index.
Q: What creates Values-based Organizations?
A: Values-based organizational culture and values-based leadership
When I took my BCom degree in the mid-1980’s, the concept of values alignment stood out for me. My first career after university was with an organization that exemplified best practices in leadership, IBM. Very few organizations at that time were applying such leading edge practices. At that time, with my knowledge from university, I was able to consciously align my values with the organization’s values and close any gaps between the two. This strategy worked very well.
This was not the case in many other organizations and, regardless, times have changed. With today’s quickly changing world, we can no longer lead successfully with the traditional command and control leadership style. We are called to harness the passion of people who will then engage and support our organizations to adapt and innovate in our uncertain and quickly changing world. We do this not solely by supporting team members to align with the organization’s values but consciously aligning the organizational culture to enact the people’s desired organizational culture through values.
This requires a conscious shift from current culture to desired culture based on the aggregated personal values of all the people in the organization and as modelled by the leaders of the organization. How do we do this? First we measure the current aggregate of our team members’ personal values, the perceived current cultural values, and the desired cultural values. Barrett’s Cultural Transformation Tools (CTT) are designed to do just that in a simple yet powerful manner.
Through data gathered from a straight-forward, online assessment, administered through the Barrett Tools, Strategy and action plans are customized based on the outcomes of the assessment, choosing one or two focus areas for the year. Re-assessment may then be done annually to see where the culture is currently at and to again see what next steps of cultural evolution are relevant.
The tools have been used to measure the values of over 6,000 organisations and 3,000 leaders in 90 countries. They help foster the transformation of corporations, NGOs, government and municipal agencies, communities, schools, and nations. The CTT values assessment instruments are available in over 50 languages.
I am delighted to now be a Cultural Transformation Tools Certified Consultant . The powerful CTT toolkit will benefit those open to understanding themselves and others on a meaningful level to create fulfilment for individuals and productivity, innovation and profitability for teams and organizations.
I believe that organisations, teams, schools, nations, and communities function better when leaders are focused on building values-driven cultures that benefit people and society. I believe that when you measure your culture, you can manage it.
Together, we can create a realistic strategy and action plan to implement and build an aligned and successful values-driven organization using Barrett’s Cultural Transformation Tools
Additional options are to bring one or more of the following programs to your organization to enhance what has been achieved through the Barrett Cultural Transformation Tools:
- Spark Success Foundations Programs:
Phase 1 – vision, mission, shared values and goals development (group or 1:1)
Phase 2 – team engagement and organizational culture development
Phase 3 – taking your organizational culture to the next level - Spark Success Corporate Culture Program – building a values driven organization
To find out more details about the Barrett Cultural Transformation Tools, see: https://www.valuescentre.com/our-products/cultural-transformation-tools
Interested in learning more? Contact me at jamie@sparksuccess.com.
Jamie
References
Barrett, R. (2017). The values-driven organization.
Barrett Values Centre. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.valuescentre.com/our-products/cultural-transformation-tools