To build a great corporate culture, don’t ignore the conflict between values
When it comes to building a great corporate culture, one of the most common frustrations we hear from leaders and senior managers is that “We got everyone involved. We worked together to define our values. And we talk about them regularly. People seem to appreciate the messages. And we saw changes at first, but now it feels that we froze. It’s as if people tried and then stopped.”
Can you feel their pain? You did a wonderful job thinking about your culture and engaging the entire organization to define the values. Now, almost anyone can recite the values and define them. But the culture hasn’t changed.
What’s going on?
The invisible barrier to a great corporate culture
Our favorite definition of culture comes from a marketing guru Seth Godin. He says that culture is simply “people like us, doing things like this”.
When people recognize and embrace your values, but you don’t see those values being lived out, the problem is likely one of two invisible conflicts:
1) Conflict between the values themselves
This first type of conflict is very common. Let’s say two of your values are “quality” and “speed”. The conflict between the two is clear. In the absence of other solutions, spend more time on quality and be slower. Go faster and you’ll likely make more mistakes.
Let’s look at one more common example of a conflict of values: “work-life balance” and “we do what it takes.” We have worked with many organizations with some version of this conflict. People really want a human-centered workplace. And they feel the pressure to beat their competition and please their customer through a strong work ethic.
If you have five values, that creates the potential for ten different values to collide.
2) Conflict between the declared values and the values of the practiced leaders
This second type of value conflict disrupts your organizational culture and undermines employee trust. This is a classic case of saying one thing but doing another. But this conflict is not just pure hypocrisy. Often, there are underlying reasons why leaders do not fully embrace the new value. For example, a manager’s bonus depends on the number of units shipped, regardless of the units returned. So the manager undermines this “quality” value by focusing on volume and pressures team members who try to go slower and focus on quality.
What happens when values collide
When you don’t address these value conflicts, they will harm your corporate culture. People feel they can’t win.
If I do that, I get pissed off here, but if I do that, then I’m in trouble for that.
These no-win scenarios frustrate people and sabotage their motivation. Soon, people are back to doing their best to get through it. And your credibility is compromised as the shiny values are now just words on the wall.
How to overcome the conflict of values and build a great corporate culture
The solution to the two invisible cultural barriers is simple: talk about them. When you launch any kind of change, whether new values or a new information system, expect challenges. call them Let everyone know you want to know about them.
Drawing attention to the inevitable conflicts prepares people for them. That employee caught between two values may say, “Oh, that’s what they were talking about. Let’s see, what should I do next?” Instead of throwing up your hands and walking away in frustration.
Let’s look at the specifics of each type of value conflict.
1) How to handle conflict between values
Recognize conflicts
Don’t let these value conflicts hide in the corner. Shine a light on them and have conversations about what they mean and what to do when they happen. Continue this conversation as you go through the values rollout. You can use the following two steps to continue the conversation.
Define success
If culture is “people like us, doing things like this”, then “what do people like us do when there is a conflict between quality and speed?”
What does success look like?
Have these discussions together. You will rarely find a perfect solution to every value conflict. Working together to talk about the game will help everyone understand how to incorporate “quality” and “speed” into their daily work. The discussions about the meaning of work-life balance and a strong work ethic will reveal new ways of doing your job.
Often, these “how can we” conversations that combine two seemingly opposing values lead to innovations and business process improvements. And you will never accept the innovations without having a discussion about the conflicts.
to tell stories
One of our favorite ways to help clients spread their culture change initiatives and values is to promote stories from senior leaders about the times they faced this clash of values—and what they did. These stories evoke the conflict and help employees imagine what it looks like to navigate values.
These stories also help everyone see that there is no perfect application of culture or values. Sometimes you have to make hard choices. Don’t shy away from this truth. The stories of senior leaders help everyone see what it means to make these choices in their work.
Celebrate optimal results
As part of your 5×5 communications plan, you likely already have planned celebrations of people who live the values. Additionally, look for ways to celebrate people who have faced a conflict of values and found an inspiring way. Tell their stories and reinforce what success looks like.
2) How to deal with the conflict between the declared values and the values of the habitual leaders
Acknowledge the conflict
Again, don’t shy away from the fact that these conflicts will happen. You will almost always make people make self-interested decisions that make perfect sense to them, but conflict with your values.
The answer is not just to tell everyone “don’t do it”. People will continue to do what makes sense to them. Instead, by drawing attention to these potential conflicts, you invite everyone to look for them. “We won’t be surprised when they happen — instead, we’re going to look for areas where our structure does align with our values — and fix that.”
Be sure to find solutions
We recently worked with a client (Su) who has a significant need to improve processes and eliminate employee mistakes that will save the business millions of dollars every year and improve its standing in the industry. But when she tried to identify the opportunities for improvement, she failed.
Employees would make a mistake and their line manager, feeling performance pressure in a fast-paced business, would scold them for the mistake in order to prevent it from happening again.
In that environment, where mistakes were punished, rather than seen as opportunities, Sue couldn’t have meaningful conversations about how to improve the systems that created the potential for mistakes in the first place.
In the same way, when you first introduce new values or a significant change in organizational culture, you can make it safe to talk about resistance. Ask your managers about the conflicts they see. If you listen carefully and appreciatively, you will learn where your systems and infrastructure undermine your values.
Practice responsibility with celebration
As you listen and make necessary structural changes, it’s time to be accountable. There may be a manager or leader who simply does not agree with the values or does not want to live by them. That’s fine – it’s better to know and help them find an organization that fits their values better.
You get more than you celebrate and encourage, so at the same time, be sure to celebrate leaders and managers who bring these conflicts to light, help resolve them, and incorporate the values into their work.
Fixing your systems, helping misaligned leaders go, and celebrating leaders who address value conflicts reinforces your commitment to culture. These overt examples send the message that you really mean it. It’s not just talk.
your turn
When you are willing to do the work and deal with value conflicts, people will come with you. We have worked with organizations to masterfully navigate these conflicts and the results are inspiring. The annual values awards have more meaning and really strengthen the corporate culture.
We’d love to hear from you: How do you help your team navigate value conflicts?
