Jim Heskitt has a new book out about the value of corporate culture or more specifically why it costs when leaders don't actively manage their cultures ( The Culture Cycle: How to Shape the Unseen Force that Transforms Performance)
I had the pleasure of speaking with Jim about corporate culture from an behavioral point of view. We chatted over how to get leaders into the 'softness' of managing their corporate culture. We landed on the idea that most leaders and employee's are not taught the skill to identify behaviors that drive everyday actions. "Values" are used as the instructor to our behavior and yet whilst most people know what they mean but not how to put them into action
Example:
Value: We act with integrity
Other than the grand ideas of not cheating or lying or stealing how does that idea (integrity) get played out in the everyday all around you?
One would think that this is a no brainer. Your company is successful if your culture is managed in a tangible way - if you define the behavior and the associated outcomes of that behavior. What in the world is so hard to understand about that.
Well, here's the thing. It really hard to identify the core behavior of a value (or set of values). We naturally jump straight to action and you'll hear the deadly phrase "I just assumed you knew". Why is identifying behavior so important? Why not just tie your Corporate Values to a series of actions and tell people this is an example of what to do?
Identifying behavior is a learning framework. Behavior is the result of internalising the knowledge and putting it into action. Behavior is the insight, action is the tactic. It's the core behaviors that create a corporate culture not just the actions. The actions are the expression of the Corporate Values in context.
Example:
Value >Core Behavior> putting values into Action
Integrity >Responsiveness>Answering all contacts within two days
If you are interested in how to learn to identify core behaviours or how this could impact your corporation contact me through the blog or egilding@insite.dasglobal.com