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 From Building a Values Based Culture: Improving Performance of People, Teams & Organizations "And this above all, to thine own self be true; and it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." William Shakespeare "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." With these words, 56 of the most prominent and wealthy citizens of America declared the colonies independent from Great Britain on July 4, 1776. Realizing the implications of their actions, they agreed to stick together regardless of what would happen to them when they said, "We pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor." The colonists were willing to risk the loss of everything they possessed — even their lives in support of the values they held dear to their hearts. They were willing to fight and die for what they believed in. To take this momentous step, they had to have a set of core values that guided their decision, inspired them to action, and was so compelling that millions of others would follow their example. This declaration of values has served as the foundation for the government of the United States for over 225 years. With such a bedrock foundation, America has withstood a Civil War, dozens of changes in leadership, depressions, and economic upheaval as well as fought eight wars on foreign soil to protect its values or extend them to other nations. Human nature has not changed in the two centuries since the American Revolution. People everywhere still want to believe and follow a core set of Values - something that gives meaning and purpose to their lives, something that inspires them and causes them to strive for excellence in what they do. The average worker in America will spend over 11,000 days of their life at work by the time they retire. That is a tremendous amount of time out of someone's life not to get much more than a paycheck for your efforts. According to a recent Shearson Leahman Brothers survey, 82% of Americans don't like and are not satisfied with their jobs. Terence E. Deal and Allan A. Kennedy in their book Corporate Cultures say, "Unlike workers ten or twenty years ago, employees today are The question arises then, what exactly are your values as a leader within your company, and more so, what are the values of the company? Without a well-defined and clearly communicated set of core values that people want to rally around, do you really have a "living organization," one that can withstand the trials and tribulations of today's complex economy? In Built to Last, James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras compare and contrast a number of companies in corporate America, companies with a strong set of Values that guide their behavior and companies with weak or non-existent Values. Over the long term, those that clearly operated from a foundation of Values outperformed their counterparts in the stock market by 15 times. They build a very powerful case for long-term business success predicated on having and living by a set of values, a set of values that people can connect with, and that people will go to extraordinary lengths to support. When we talk about Values, we are talking about things like Integrity, Respect for the Individual, Honesty, Balance of work and personal life, etc. The number one request of the workers of America today is that their leaders have Integrity…not a surprise when you see who the newsmakers are both publicly and privately. Two thirds of workers believe their managers are not honest…and perception is reality to them. And the number one expectation of workers today, especially the Generation Xer's is that they work for a company that supports Balance. With these in mind, how do you and your company fair? What could you put in place to change some of the perceptions? What are the core values needed to add passion to the work environment for your people? And how do you discover those values and articulate them so that everyone in your organization can embrace them and begin to make a difference in what they do each and every day. Contact us at 303-814-8100 for information on how BreakThroughs can help your company identify its core values. Key questions to ask yourself are:
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