Most organisations have a set of values. For some they are kept in a dusty file, for others they are a poster on the wall – lip service to some consultants who said values are important and sometimes they are real, and employees have been involved in their creation.
Values alone are pointless
Values alone are pointless. It’s when employees’ behaviours reflect the values agreed and are the company culture that magic can happen.
However, I think you can tell more about a company culture from hanging out there and experiencing the ‘vibe’ than by reading the official values poster.
I’m not criticising the values poster by the way. They can be really helpful nudges and reminders for employees if as an organisation you are serious about living your values. If your only way of embedding values is the poster, it’s a tick box exercise and you’ve wasted money on printing and possibly a clip frame.
The poster with no context or meaning is pointless.
When I visit client offices, I get a lot of insight on the culture of the organisation from just observing the environment, and generally how people interact.
Often insight comes from unlikely places and the company bathrooms are one of those.
I once worked at an organisation where there was a sign on the toilets asking us to make sure we ‘Removed all personal grooming remnants before leaving the cubicle’.
No me neither. Didn’t want to think about the incident that provoked that poster.
‘No spitting in the toilet’ was another favourite.
Recently someone sent me a picture of a sign that had appeared in the staff toilets that said,
‘Please open the window and shut the door after using the toilet.’
What do you make of the real company culture here?
I don’t think ‘passive aggressive’ would have been the words on the values poster.
Working on our team and organisational culture is always work in progress. Even small things like a poster can cause ripples and signal that there’s more to do.
Are there any of these signals of your company culture in your workplace? I’m interested to hear your thoughts. Get in touch.