From front-line to Finance

When working with clients on values and behaviours, I always stress the need for relevance and resonance across the organisation.

Values should cover both beliefs and behaviours: the principles that guide an organisation and steps needed to deliver them in practice. They should help employees know what is expected of them and show potential recruits the culture that awaits them. To achieve either goal effectively, the values must be realistic and relevant to every area of the organisation.

Too often, values fail to connect with different employee groups. For example, they may work for people in customer-facing roles, but have little resonance with supporting functions. Or, at the other end of the scale, they are so vague that they carry no meaning for anyone.

If values are going to be useful, for both current employees and potential recruits, they must resonate widely. I use the simple phrase ‘from front-line to Finance’ to signify the scope needed. Without this, new or refined values risk undermining rather than strengthening the desired sense of clarity and common purpose.