I’m SO bored with Values statements
“Our brand / company values are Honesty, Quality, Entrepreneurship, and Responsibility. Or Integrity, Relationships, Fun, bla bla bla”.
I overhead someone at breakfast in the hotel today saying to his colleague “I loved the discussion about values yesterday, it really brought home to me what this company is all about”. I nearly puked up my yoghurt.
Even if these were true, and the companies actually lived by them, would it tell us anything interesting?
Who is going to choose values of Dishonesty, Shoddy Work, Rudeness and Boredom??
So I suppose the only thing we can look at is what they DON’T choose, since they can only have 4 or 6 or whatever, what are the ones that don’t make the cut. What if creativity isn’t in there? Or work/life balance? Of course they usually cover all the bases with a cunning set of generalised waffle.
I just looked up BT’s values (a company I hate, I’ve never had a good experience with them and now they have taken over my beloved Orange) and here they are
Customer – We are here for our customers
Team – We help each other achieve more
Honesty – We are honest and respectful
Change – We all make change happen
Pride – We are proud to make a difference
A great example of the ‘covering everything’ strategy. Even if you leave aside that they blatantly haven’t done 1, 3 and 4 for me – sorry guys but it’s true – does this bland waffle tell us anything really?
I think a statement of values would only be interesting if there was a dilemma, – something like “Should we choose to be ‘good value’ or ‘high quality’?” – no, but that’s more a strategy dilemma. Honesty vs Dishonesty. Change vs Inertia. Pride vs Apathy. Hmm… Can anyone give me just ONE example of a values dilemma? I don’t think there IS such a thing.
So to all companies out there: please don’t waste time on dreaming up your values, and don’t waste time telling them to me: instead, get your customer service right and your quality right, for a half decent price, and then I’ll be happy.
I think values matter but not necessarily to the customer. I think they are very useful (if they are honest) for internal cohesion. Eg if you don’t show the values you won’t want to apply for a job there. Perhaps by making them less outward facing the marketing team can be less involved and instead be real. But I am an idealist!
Sorry if I made you gip your yogurt.
Obviously, you are right, never occurred to me that they tell lies!!! The swine.