How Clear Is Clear Enough?

In my experience over the last two decades, I can’t point to a single company that I’ve worked for or with where no values were listed anywhere; in the employee handbook at a minimum, but often painted on the walls in prominent areas throughout the facility as well. With much of my experience with those organizations being involved in taking new employees through the orientation process, I had quite a bit of exposure to those values. Not only was I covering the high points of the policy manual, those sessions were typically held in a room with the values listed somewhere on the wall. And if not on the wall inside the room, they were definitely on a bulletin board just outside…

Even if we never worked together, or for the same companies, I have no doubt you can picture yourself in a setting like this as a new employee - or at least in a meeting room where you can clearly see the values listed. But how often did you hear anyone discuss those values after that initial orientation? And where else do you see them?

In an article from MITSloan Management Review called “When It Comes to Culture, Does Your Company Walk the Talk?”, the authors open with this:

“When Johnson & Johnson’s CEO codified the company’s principles into a credo in 1943, corporate value statements were a novelty. Today they are ubiquitous among large corporations. In our study of nearly 700 large companies, we found that more than 80% published an official set of corporate values on their website. Senior leaders, in particular, love to talk about their company culture. Over the past three decades, more than three-quarters of CEOs interviewed in a major business magazine discussed their company’s culture or core values — even when not specifically asked about it. Corporate values statements are nearly universal, but do they matter? Critics dismiss them as cheap talk with no impact on employees’ day-to-day behavior.”

While I found several more sources sharing similar statistics for the frequency of having company core values posted for all to see, a direct correlation to how it impacted their revenue - as opposed to the remaining minority without clearly stated values - was nowhere to be found. To get a clear picture of what that lack of core values really costs, I believe our best bet would be to circle back to What’s KILLING Your Profitability?, because there’s sure to be a gap in leadership if we’re not at least upholding a set of core values. 

For now, let’s consider how so many companies could have their values listed on a website, in a handbook, and posted throughout their buildings with there still being room for critics to dismiss them. And if CEOs are speaking about their values so frequently, even without being asked to, I’d expect there to be substantial evidence showing the impact it has on their organizations’ bottom line! Should that make any organizational values clear enough for everyone involved?

I believe there are several things driving this disconnect, providing the critics (and often the folks employed in those companies) with more than enough reason to blow the stated values off as cheap talk. Think about the latter first: how often is the CEO from one of those “large corporations” referenced in that study likely to interact with the minions? I mean, their employees… It’s one thing to pontificate for the media and Wall Street, but do you really think they’re singing the same song on the rare occasion they talk with someone on the front line? Now, the former… At least those values are listed in plenty of places so every employee can read them and all other levels of management can carry the torch - right? How often have you heard values discussed openly after the first day with a company (or the day an updated handbook is rolled out)? And where were the managers or supervisors in that process? If they were even in the room, I’d guess they weren’t the ones talking! Oh, and how much clarity were you given for what anything in that word salad actually meant - or looked like in practice? 

The authors of the MITSloan article went on to say this, “Unfortunately, many organizations’ core values are so generic that they could easily serve as fodder for a Dilbert cartoon.” What a far too relevant statement, so we’ll pick up there next time…