Quick, what are your company's values? Don't bother reaching for the corporate handbook - suffice to say most of us realize our companies have them, we're just not sure what they are. They come to us in a boring little book full of legal jargon... a book most of us promptly abandon to the back of our filing cabinet. Who writes them? "They" do.
But what if you had a hand in writing your company's values? Suddenly the dusty jargon becomes something much more - an extension of your personal beliefs and goals. It's enough to make the difference between a "job" and a "career."
Michael Wright is the COO of microelectronics company Entegris and author of a new book on global business called The New Business Normal. He believes relevant values are just one of the things missing from today's corporations. Enron, WorldCom, HealthSouth - they all had dusty little books full of values. To what end? Turns out many of the execs who handed them down were the very same execs who betrayed them. I spoke with Wright today about his new book, and how he transformed his company's values from tokenisms to tenets:
You will never get a culture change with lip service. We sent people out to every level of our company - to 80% of our employees - and we held mini focus groups. Maybe 15-30 people in each, for 2-4 hours. We asked them things like 'What does integrity mean to you?' and 'How does one exhibit it?'[Asking employees] had a very positive effect on the atmosphere of the company. When employees take part in forming their company's values, they're more likely to buy in. They're willing to discuss things. For example, when a battle at work turns personal, we know we've violated one of our values: respectful relationships. After all, we formed them. As a result, we're willing to call each other on things we might not have before.
Performance is a residual of behaviors. If you flip that you get an Enron, where behaviors were a residual of performance. If the only thing you hold out as important is performance, you'll get it. But you'll get it with behaviors you didn't plan.
With millions on the table, would Lay or Scrushy have paid any attention to this advice? Would you?
Better to have your values straightened out before you have to make the choice.
Related Stories: | Topics:Work/Life, ethics, Michael Wright, Enron Corporation, Media, Books and Literature, Book Reviews |
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Recent Comments | 5 Total
April 12, 2005 at 7:10pm by Sachin Arora
I strongly believe that the very first employees form the core DNA of a company,& the values they lay down play a crucial role in attracting new talent.For e.g., APPLE computers was started by 2 very distinct individuals each possessing diametric qualities, one of them a technical genius(steve wozniak),& the other an aesthetic guru, with a strong insight into people's discernings.This company, after almost 20 years in existence still attracts innovative talent ready to get out the next change in people's way of doing things.So, the core idea that emerges is recruiting & nurturing human capital which fits in with the core DNA of the original company.THis ensures the sustenance of values as well as prepares the future leaders.
April 13, 2005 at 11:57am by David Facer
Looking at ENRON for evidence for what went wrong is like looking in Wonka's factory for a bar of chocolate. I find it kinda boring anymore. Besides, such focus only plays into our culture's habit of watching the flashy and listening to the loud.
If you want to find sparkling examples of how companies are, not can be, but are built on values that evolve not just the wallets but the spirits of everyone involved, start looking at micro-businesses.
It may not play well for a FC reader; they want to know how to scale organizations. I realize that. But, the little guys have more to say about what is right; the big guys tend to focus too much on what works. They are not, as we have know, inherently synonymous.
How about this: as leaders grapple with coalescing a group of values to guide their thoughts, words and actions (and let them focus on and rigorously regulate themselves foremost), let's have them agree to some of the ones rarely, if ever, on the list. Then put the gavel in the hands of some folks NOT in the executive suite for measurement.
Shame - we value shame when someone repeatedly transgresses against what they and we all have chosen to be our guiding principles.
Forgiveness - we value forgiveness because we know that the high road is a hard road. Everyone falls down once in a while. We lift each other up, forgive, remind, recommit and move forward.
Fear - we value fear as a potent reminder of the imminent consequences likely to befall us if we remain on an uninspired path.
Poverty - we value poverty, or the imposition of financial hardship (loss of pay, loss of job) as a necessary result of wonton disregard for our high-minded and high-spirited system. It's like being expelled from school for cheating - quite fair, quite right.
Greed - we value greed because it keeps us looking at new places where we can serve. We want to serve X number of people and make Y amount of money. These things are good. They turn bad when we harm people and fail to be think, talk and act as the most evolved businesspeople - correction - PEOPLE who ever lived. Should greed be misinterpreted that way, please refer to the first item on this list.
Okay, if those ideas are too weird, rent three year's worth of The Waltons. Pay special attention to the grandmother. No nonsense. No noise. No silly language. Just straightforward, clean ethics.
How's that for stirring the pot?
April 13, 2005 at 12:02pm by Dan Seidman
Hey Folks!
You can't learn any of this stuff at this point in the game. If you didn't value integrity and respect as a kid, nothing is going to instill it in you now. Want proof? Look at all the people in prisons who get out and go back to being themselves - and end up back in the joint.
I used to work for a company whose president regularly brought in competing firms' execs to discuss buyout/merger ideas.
We (the sales staff) knew the meetings were over when he brought in all his notes and told us to go after their clients! We now had pricing data, contract expire dates and more.
Think our president was a man of integrity? No, just an attorney. He thought this was a shrewd strategy.
Noboby that knows him will be surprised when he's found in the trunk of a car.
And, it'd be easier on the court system (which, by the way, we pay for).
What integrity stories do you have from your past?
Dan Seidman, SalesAutopsy.com
"One of the top 12 sales coaches in America" (Ultimate Selling Power)
Sales Horror Stories now appearing on Monster.com!
Author, The Sales Comic Book
There is nothing like it on this planet (possibly any planet)!
http://www.salesautopsy.com 1-847-359-7860 (central time)
April 13, 2005 at 1:01pm by David Facer
The past can be a powerful determinant of what happens now. Still, prisoners and prisons?
Broadly speaking, the prison system is a holding system. It is not instructive, inventive or rehabilitative. That said, I immediately think of the example of a San Diego military brig which issues uniforms to all prisoners. They don't include rank markings, but, prisoners report that being back in uniform helps improve their self esteem - which in turn accelerates their attitude and behavior change. Not everyone turns into a saint, to be sure. Nonetheless, this is a case of transgressors upgrading their approaches to living from within an organization that thinks and acts differently.
Adults are not capable of upgrading their thinking, attitudes, words and behaviors - er...their lives? Sure they are, and I have many clients who do, too.
That is not to say companies ought to be in the rehab or redefinition business. I, myself, want teammates who are already functioning at very high ethical, spiritial and technical levels.
Nonetheless, what happened in one's childhood years is not all they have to draw on.
April 13, 2005 at 5:23pm by jim wilde
Find values!
Imagine the end of your own life. Imagine yourself in a hospital bed, knowing you have only a few hours left to live or you may imagine your own funeral.
Try to see it as concretely as you can. Who is in the room? What are they wearing? What sounds can you hear? Where are people sitting or standing? What can you smell? What color is the floor? Imagine the scene for a few minutes. Then begin to think about what you would like to be true at that time.
* What would you like the people you care about to say or think of you at the end of your life?
* What would you like to have accomplished in your life?
* What would you, yourself, want to know was true about your life even if no one else in the world knew it?
Take some notes, write a description of the most important goals you want to strive for in your life. Make a meme out of it.
People want to be useful and valued — we want to contribute. So let’s quit wasting time! Stand up straight, shoulders back, and act like you have some sense in your head.