1/17/12
More than any one factor in a business’s life, the values which guide how they make decisions are more important than almost any other factor. However, just stating them does not make it so.
When stated vs. actual behavioral values are not aligned, people end up making decisions for the wrong reasons, spending resources on efforts that get overturned, and general schizophrenia in the overall decision making process -- wasting lots of money along the way.
Identifying the core decisions values of the executives - their intent - and putting them into an actionable framework, can result in massive change, typically in a very short time frame.
Change cannot be effectively driven from dictating process, or technology, or even budget, However, change IS all about executive intent - translating the decision values of your executives into behavioral actions of everyone in the organization.
You pay the significant salaries for the people at the top, and yet, that superior knowledge and leadership seldom gets translated into the day-to-day behavior of the rank and file.
If you can articulate the core VALUES (principles) - statements that reflect why you make decisions the way you do - you have a good start to effective change, but only a start. These are not things, these are values - statements that reflect why you would make a decision one way or another.
How is this, you ask? You have principles defined, and yet we still struggle with decisions and change?
We can help you put these into a powerful tool for effective management in your organization.
Step 1 - Articulate your decision values
Step 2 - Allocate into affinity groups, based on a consistent framework
Step 3 - Aggregate these into the essence of the affinity group; typically you will have 5-6 different major groupings
NOTE: These groups are typically in conflict - this needs to be resolved - see next steps
Step 4 - Break down these aggregated decision values, into business and I/T implications - concrete outcomes specific to your organization.
Step 5 - Create a logical framework for applying these decisions in a prioritized fashion for every decision, and make it part of doing business going forward.
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to hang around with them or socialize with them. It doesn’t matter if someone doesn’t like baseball or libraries or museums or opera or if they dress differently from you. But if your business values are different, if your treatment of people is different, if you don’t agree about the behavior that you want to cultivate in your company, that is a problem. You have to be on the same page there.”
Jack Welch, Chairman and CEO of General Electric Co. for nearly two decades, 600 acquisitions and numerous earnings records.
Source: Wall Street Journal, June 21, 1999
Organizations whose values are aligned with their strategies tend to achieve outstanding results. One 11-year study showed that companies with cultures that aligned values with strategies increased their revenue by 682 percent versus 166 percent for other companies.
Source: The Performance Engineering Group
