According to Jim Collins, business consultant, organizational values cannot be “set”; they should be
discovered. Some companies fall into errorof picking their values randomly and
trying to fit them into their organization, but core values are not “one size
fits all”. Instead, instituting strong and
unique core values brings internal and external advantages:they educate clients
and potential customers on what the company is about and clarify the identity
of the company and increasingly they are becoming recruiting and retention
tools. New employees will bring their own set of values, still these should be
aligned with the values of the company that is hiring them.
Core values are not necessarily reliant on the type of
company or industry and can vary broadly, even among organizations that do
similar types of work. Although, there are some repeated core valuesacross
organizations of different kinds:
·
Balance – creating and
maintaining a healthy work-life balance for workers
·
Commitment – Committing to
great product, service, and other initiatives
·
Community –Contributing to
society
·
Diversity – Enhancing diversity
and equal opportunity
·
Innovation – Chasing new
creative ideas
Some advicesin
order to found and maintain company values are:
-
Document and talk about the values with the team very
often
-
A set of five or less values is ideal, this way the
employees will have them always in mind when making decisions
-
Determine a set of questions to be askedduring
selection processesthat aid to determine if a candidate’s values align
-
Generic values won’t establish a strong culture.
Companies with unique cultures tend to have unconventionaland even
controversial values
-
Focus on establishing strong values early and hiring
people that have aligning values
As an example, diversity and equal opportunity are two
of Inditex core values. Differently, luxury brand Dior core values underline
the constant performance and appreciation for its quality at the highest
levels.
