I bought a new pair of jeans with very explicit laundry instructions to turn them inside out for washing in order to preserve their full color and quality on the outside.

You never know when insight will light up! I found myself holding the tag and thinking of the work SWIM does with clients who want to BE and be PERCEIVED as a values-based company or organization, driven by principles that ultimately add to a greater good.

To be that values-driven company or organization requires some inside/outside thinking and commitment. Aspirational (external) values are essential but they best serve an organization when they mutually reflect and reinforce the internal values. Values announced to the world through a mission statement, marketing materials, publications need to have good implementing strategies to help them come to life. External values that are not supported by matching internal values create dissonance and eventually will throw an organization into dishonest and unsustainable behavior.

Example: A company may hold strong values about eliciting the input and participation of customers/constituents and their experiences. An organization holding this external value wants customers/clients to understand, to optimize products or services. Yet, internal values in staff policies and behaviors may not truly enable staff to support or inspire such external openness and acceptance with clients or constituencies. In addition, sometimes organizations demand external customer service/satisfaction at the expense of valuing staff: working long hours; foregoing holidays; spending time in training; going beyond the expected standard. In these circumstances staff and leaders are too busy to engage staff in shared knowledge building and problem solving. So an organization can appear kind, caring, benevolent, responsive and even fiercely loyal to customers/constituents; and yet the same organization can be undermining or ignoring the internal value that can fulfill the external value. Often this forces out otherwise excellent staff—they hit a tolerance level for the dissonance; they are not supported with resources; they are supervised but not mentored. An outside super value that is contradicted internally is not sustainable.

The question is: What if every externally facing value had a matching internally facing value? Wouldn’t that strengthen the organization and the ability of staff to deliver on those big values?

Example: Mission statements often say things that imply their aspirational values: i.e. the expressed commitment to help create a fair and equitable world. Fortunately, in most organizations the programs have been created and funded to match such aspirations. MEANWHILE…the same organization lacks aligned internal values: it has no pension plan or contribution device for employees. Women are paid less than men. People of color are not well represented in leadership. Added together, there is virtually no or little alignment between internal personnel policies and external aspirations for creating an equitable world!

Once a client came to me and asked for help in achieving systemic change in their area of focus. Their mission statement obligated them to “changing the economic system of their state to work better for equally engaging and rewarding women and girls in the economy.” Terrific…what a great mission. But they were stumbling to show results. Why? Because the internal values of staff and board had been established around helping individual women and girls to change their individual lives. The organization’s leaders hoped that over time the numbers of individuals would aggregate into a pattern of change. But the beliefs around changing the individual and the level of investment simply were not enough to either design or achieve systemic change. The externally expressed values did not align with internally held beliefs and values about what was worth their time and money!

There was no way forward for the organization but to accept the contradiction they had created and then embrace changes that would align their work one way or the other…either make systemic change OR shift the mission to convey a belief in the power of individual change.

Here are some other common examples of external values that don’t align with internal procedures and the values they imply. Both internal and external values—well aligned--also need to have implementing policies and plans.

I think you are beginning to get the picture of how contradictory and/or misaligned values and practices can undermine the aspirations of an organization and fracture energy and focus. A stronger and high-achieving organization will be aligned in values, strategies, policies, action and accountability

As a reader of SWIM Notes, for the next three weeks, download the Understanding and Activating our Values tool for free ($25 value). Use code PERK. This tool helps you think through how your external and internal values and practices align.

This deal expires March 16, 2020

Author: Stephanie Clohsey

Inside Out Values