Part 1 Introduction to Leading & Operating from a Values-Basis
Excellence starts from within. Intention and words will only take leaders, teams, and organization so far. Leaders and organizations need values to establish consistent meaningful action. While ethics tells us what not to do, values (or operating principles) give us and our whole organization direction, commitment, and decision-making prowess. It’s time to up the ante on “good” leadership.
Table of Contents
1. Values as Operating Principles
2. Why It’s Time to Bring Our Values to Work
3. Let’s Reintroduce Ourselves
4. What’s Next
5. Resources to Fill Your Toolbox
Key Takeaways
Values are the means of demonstrating active compassion in a way that compels meaningful action from a space of shared principles
Values-based decision making is an equitable practice
Knowing who you are and what you stand for is the first step
Values as Operating Principles
Many organizations and social systems have operating principles. Operating principles can be loosely defined as a set of characteristics or expectations of the environment that guide daily activities, and sometimes defined as a means of instituting organizational or team values. Some have forgone the step of building principles, values, or even collective objectives in favor of a code of ethics, mission statement, a business plan, or even cultural archetypes. While those things may be inclusive of values, values are intentionally much more than that.
Values are the means of demonstrating active compassion in a way that compels meaningful action from a space of shared principles. Essentially, this means that values are intended to express a collective intention and help that collective make decisions accordingly.
Values allow us to design our present and future behavior, including for successful problem solving, efficiency creation, and purposeful appreciation of our human and non-human capital. It also provides a means of creating explicitly shared and unambiguous paths to action and decision making.
Bringing that level of intention to our operations truly changes the game. In this way, operational “principles” actually have value and can be valued. They are no longer merely statements of positive intent.
Why It’s Time to Bring Our Values to Work
“Being ethical and principled at home and at work is not only realistic, but normal. Being principled is simply the alignment of who we are, what we wish for ourselves and others, and the words we speak and actions we take...”[1]
Organizations have many processes, procedures, policies, and rules for operation. Rarely do those tools or systems originate or evolve with the organization’s current staff. Neither do they tend to allow for consistent self-governing decision making aligned with leadership and that can be done independent of context. Instead, those tools or systems appear or are introduced as a way of being without connection or power to authorize action.
This is why values in our organizations require more than a compelling mission statement, thorough code of ethics, clear business plan, or catchy cultural slogans.
Consider the US military, the Army, specifically. (Yes, I know it’s a very different context than where you are. But hang with me while we learn from this seeming outlier.) The US Army has “core values.”[2] If television and movies have taught us nothing else, we know that those core values translate into widespread commitment to operational excellence. This looks like the battlefield scene where the soldiers need to make decisions without leadership. They ALWAYS fall back on “duty”. But this is not duty to a master plan or to a textile bearing their colors or to a three million square mile ecosystem in the Northern hemisphere. No! This duty is to their “core values”. Soldiers, as US Army employees, make decisions based on what they know to be true about the expectations (i.e., core values) of their business operations.
Go ahead. Take a look.[3] Those values are very clear, incredibly compelling, and undeniably empowering. They work in situations of crisis, in the absence of leadership, and in daily activities. This is a prime example of how operating principles and organizational values should function in the workplace.
The bottom line is this: bringing values to work is an equitable practice. It requires and it provides unmistakable power and authority to take action through:
1) access (to the strategies and processes intended to guide operations),
2) inclusion (everyone contributes, adheres, and benefits),
3) balance of power (the benefits and liabilities are shared, and the expectations are standardized to respective roles),
4) transparency (expectations are clear and known), and
5) integrity (we do and say what is right and what we believe, so we can trust our values and each other).
This means our values should have the effect of requiring us to consider those equitable approaches and allowing all employees the privilege of participating in the work of the organization in those ways.
It is not a magic solution for broken teams, failing infrastructure, or poor management. It also won’t cure your HR or operational ills overnight. However, it is a daily opportunity for staff to confidently approach their roles and responsibilities knowing with more precision when, where, why, and how to perform their duties. Similarly, values as an equitable practice means operational practices can be assessed using those same approaches to bring about equitable improvements.
This is less about training to perfection and more about providing clear and feasible opportunities to succeed that apply across the board.
Let’s Reintroduce Ourselves
Leading with your values first means being clear on who you are and what you stand for – first as individuals, then as a collective. To bring those values to work, you must discover what you already value.
So, who are you? What are the things that ground you and motivate your actions? What things do you believe you and everyone else who lives on this planet deserves?
In my work and in my play, I stand for courage, integrity, and equanimity, for myself and others. This definition of my self is my personal value proposition. It guides my decision making and I bring it to every table as a distinct quality that enriches the engagement.
This approach creates space for us to define, curate, assess, and improve what our work looks like, what decision making means, and how we define success. This means planning, committing, and doing now have standards. Having standards means the decisions we make and the work we undertake individually and collectively almost always have a path or mechanism for successful resolutions. That kind of operational assurance is a true value-add.
Endnotes [1] Sharma, Monica. Radical Transformational Leadership - Strategic Action for Change Agents, North Atlantic Books,U.S., 2017. [2] US Army Purpose & Legacy, https://www.goarmy.com/explore-the-army/purpose-legacy.html. [3] US Army Purpose & Legacy, https://www.goarmy.com/explore-the-army/purpose-legacy.html.
What’s Next
Consider
Who are you and what do you stand for?
Is it clear who your organization is and what it stands for?
What operating principles do you have in place or wish you could put in place to better reflect who you are and what you stand for?
Stay Tuned
Watch this space for more on Values-Based Leadership and Operations, including Part 2 on how to turn your values into an actionable operational strategy.
Resources to Fill Your Toolbox
1. Brene’ Brown’s Dare to Lead List of Values, here.
2. Barrett Values Centre, How to Get Your Core Values Right, here.
This post is part of the “Values-Based Leadership” series.
If you are eager to explore values mapping or planning for your organization, please reach out. From decision-making frameworks to policy updates to goal setting or impact planning, I’ve seen it and done it. Let me know how I can help you achieve your values-oriented goals.
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