Understanding the Value of Organisational Values
Closing the distance between stated values and lived behaviour by studying values as a system of signals rather than a statement on a wall.
Experience outcome
Staff could see the behaviours the organisation actually rewards, and where that contradicted what they were told.
Consistency in how customers were treated across teams that had been interpreting values differently.
Culture work tied to observable behaviour rather than communication spend.
Impact at a glance
Shared, evidence-based language for describing culture
Named contradictions between policy and stated values
Behavioural indicators leaders could actually observe
Problem
Values had been articulated and communicated, yet leaders could not explain why behaviour in some parts of the organisation contradicted them. Culture work had been treated as communication, so the conditions producing the behaviour were never examined.
Approach
We studied values in action: what people were rewarded for, what they observed leaders tolerate, and which signals in process, policy and environment carried more weight than the stated values. Findings were tested with staff and leaders together rather than delivered as a verdict.
System designed
- A values-in-action system: a small set of observable behaviours per value, the signals and rituals that reinforce them, and adjustments to the processes that were quietly working against them.
Impact
- Shared, evidence-based language for describing culture
- Named contradictions between policy and stated values
- Behavioural indicators leaders could actually observe
Artefacts
- Values-in-action behavioural framework
- Signal and reinforcement map
- Insight report and evidence library
Have a problem shaped like this?
Thirty minutes, no cost, no pitch. Bring the problem that is not returning value and we will give you an initial read on the system producing it.