It may make me a little dorky (or a lot dorky) but find the concept of values in the work fascinating.  What intrigues me is how businesses will commit hours, people, resources and money to come up with a list of values and then hang them on the wall where they are never to be referenced again.  Not only that, but many times executive leadership will act in ways that tell employees that these values are not what we are, but what we say we are (or maybe what we are striving to be). To these executives I would say, “Your actions are talking so loud, no one can hear what you are saying.”

 
A couple things to remember about values.

1. Everybody and every business has a value system (an internal set of rules that guide behavior). Whether they (or we) know it or not, all employees bring their values to work.
2. All workplaces conduct business based on those values. The mission critical is to identify the existing values and figure out if those values are contributing to productivity and engagement (or not).
3. Identifying values (and defining a mission only go so far). It has to be more then a plaque on the wall.  Values need to be practiced, demonstrated, and reinforced regularly.

Tomorrow:  A real life example of values in the workplace.