Definition

We admire the diversity of culture, architecture, food, art. Thanks to this diversity, we can show our individuality. There aren’t two people exactly the same – so as there aren’t the same two companies. The individuality of both a person and any organization is built on experience and its understanding, on the multitude of choices made, on the priorities and values that we stick to. The culture, style, life and routine of each company is unique.

If you look more closely, this individuality is built on a solid foundation, the essence of which is values. We often do not pay attention to them. But they affect us even if we don’t see them. In this article I want to share with you how it happens.

Man is limited in time, resources, and knowledge. In our lifetime, we will not have time to make all our desires true. We have to choose. In theory, every choice we make is based on the values we have. Sometimes we follow habits or other people’s goals, but our life will be full only when we live it according to our values. Without what does my work or life have no meaning? What is important? If we choose not our own tasks, it will bring us discomfort or even suffering.

If the company has not prescribed a single system of values and does not broadcast them openly, this will happen in a hidden form. In the latter case, it will only be more difficult to manage the process. The company’s goals come from its values and what we wish for, not the other way around. If we don’t have a strategy of who we want to be in a year, five, twenty years, then what we do today loses its meaning[1].

Values are strong beliefs about better ways of behaving or ultimate goals. They are usually seen as the most stable mental structure.¹ Values are not about intelligence or reasoning. It’s about feelings. Often we call values things we want, our desires or needs. But it is not so. What is relevant to human needs has a market price. And values, strange as it may seem, judging by the name, have no price or equivalent.

Values can be divided into two levels. Our value core is the deeper level. It is about something that cannot be exchanged, sold, that we will never reject. A person is not ready to give it up or compromise. For example, it is freedom or a vocation. Our inner self is based on our value core. There are also peripheral values. This is something we can sacrifice depending on the context. For example, limiting your freedom for the sake of a more important goal. Any peripheral value works on the value core^[3].

Modern society is arranged in such a way that values are often hidden even from ourselves. To adapt to society, we play roles more often than we follow our nature. But you can get to them by looking behind your roles. For example, using the simple principle “5 whys”^[1]. When we want to understand the reason for our action, we can gradually deepen with the only question “Why do I need this?”, “Why am I doing this?”.

• Why did I go to work? - To build a career in the company.
• Why do I want to build a career? - To manage people?
• Why do I want to manage? - To teach my employees?
• Why do I want to teach employees? - To be surrounded by intelligent thinking people.

In this example, learning and intelligence are important for a person. But the answer may be different. Work can be for money, and money can give your child a good education, and education - so that he’ll have a choice of what kind of life to live. Then, conditionally: family and freedom. In a person’s life, family feelings can be more important than self-realization.

Here it is important not to look for reasons for your views, including from childhood. These are different techniques. Correctly formulated questions are important, because they set the right direction of thinking.

And just as there is no average person, there are no average values. Everyone has his own individual set. As for a group of people, the common consists of a great diversity of the individual. This makes it so difficult to build and manage a team. Sometimes, people want to move in different directions. The essence of the team is that all its members move in the same direction, their movement vectors are coordinated. Selection and building a team is more difficult task than it seems at first sight.

There are no “bad” people. Everyone relies on his values and does what corresponds to them. Any person does good, but in his picture of the world. Likewise, there are no “good” or “bad” values. Any set of values is right, any can be handled and great companies can be built on it. But there are more or less elaborate structures, with or without contradictions. What is really bad is the contradiction when we think one thing and do another.

At the same time, almost any set of values of a real person contains contradictions. Values often contradict each other or interfere. It takes great skill to combine seemingly incompatible ideas such as individualism and collectivism. For example, a company that wants to build a culture on “family values” in its corporate environment cannot be expansive, but sometimes it tries. The issue of “team-family” is generally very controversial and we will touch on it below. An important part of the daily work of every manager and employee is to reduce these contradictions, to become more honest with oneself. It makes our lives and the lives of our colleagues a bit better. People want to work for companies with similar values. It gives them an opportunity to express themselves, because they do not have to spend a lot of energy on internal contradictions.

Nations have their own cultural codes of work, family, and money. This concept was well described by marketer Clotaire Rapaille^[4]. Cultural code - the meaning of a thing, phenomenon or concept, which a person is not aware of, but according to which he looks at this phenomenon. It is unique to each culture. This is the cultural unconscious. For example, if the cultural code of food in the USA is fuel, then Americans will prefer large portions, fast eating, the taste of food is not particularly important to them. Unlike the food code in Japan, where cooking and consuming food is the way to approach perfection. The US cultural code has spread around the world. Therefore, many cultures now rely on American values. We try to copy many techniques and approaches, even though they do not fit our culture. Successful examples are inspiring, but it is bad when we take the form, but do not consider their foundation - what they are built on and what made them successful.

How values affect our every day

The most vivid examples can be found in situations where something does not work as intended. For example, the owner of the company read a book about how Google works, took great ideas from it and tries to use them. This approach often does not work. Why does this happen?

When we change processes, we plan for people to work more synchronously in their efforts for a common result. We do not increase working hours, we do not purchase the latest equipment. New processes should make it possible to co-align people in the company with one goal, simplify interaction and improve quality. But these good approaches, proven by time and experience of other companies, sometimes are incompatible with our principles or culture. Such cases can be compared to situation when we transplant a plant from a humid warm tropical climate to the soil of northern latitudes or vice versa. For the practice to take root, it must fit the temperament and climate of the company, which is determined by its values.

The first thing that is often ignored is that values work at the company level is a multi-year process and should be started as early as possible. The good news is that for smaller teams, with the right approach, it will take much less time. And secondly, measuring co-aligning is more difficult than measuring performance indicators. Usually, people themselves do not always understand their values and their compatibility with the values of colleagues. It takes subtle reflection of change, constant observation and calibration to lead in the right direction. And the most important thing is that each person should personally align with the ideas and values introduced.

If you feel that something is going wrong in the company, the tasks do not reach the executors or are distorted, then it is often connected with this “co-alignment” of people on the company’s goals or with their internal contradictions.

I saw a good example of a huge company trying to take Spotify’s operating model and apply it to their corporate structure. Spotify is a Swedish company. Society there is more horizontal. People are a little less career and hierarchy oriented than in many other cultures. And the model created perfectly reflects the cultural code of most Spotify employees. But is it possible, for example, to transfer this same structure to a company where hierarchy is important for employees, leaders have a sacred meaning, and people learn by following them? Of course not. Perhaps part of the structure will fit, but other part will interfere. There are people who have a hard time accepting equality - it’s easier for them in the hierarchy. As a result, it will be a completely different company. You might like it, but it certainly won’t be the one you wanted to build, and it’s unlikely to be as efficient as the reference model.

If any action or procedure is motivated by accepted standards, it has no meaning. Successful procedures, which have become world standards, are built on ideas and carry ideas in themselves. Studying any methodology should begin with getting to know the principles behind it. If we do not understand deeply why we are building a motivation system of employees, or why do we need team rituals, then they will have an imitative character.

Some managers adhere to the idea, “If people work on weekends, it means that there is something wrong with the processes.” In this case, if an employee goes to work on the weekend without the need or even out of boredom, they will definitely stop him. Even if tight deadlines are at stake, processes and respect for personal time are still more important to them. This is characteristic of European culture. You are important as a person in your own right, you don’t need to deserve good attitude. The company respects your personal time, and this is legally stipulated.

The American cultural code of work is completely different, they are always in touch (because work is who I am^[4]). Out of respect, they write after hours. And it’s not because they don’t respect their colleagues. There respect is built on a different basis. I’m sure you also know teams that work overtime, with an irregular schedule. Such companies do a lot for the development of any industry. If people want to change the world, working overtime is a normal process. If we value our inner world and comfort more than the outer world, it is more difficult to change the world, but we are also unlikely will stay late at work.

We come across values dozens of times a day, but we don’t always notice them. They are especially visible at the moment of choice:

• What work do we prioritize?
• What can be postponed? What to give up?
• Can I approach a colleague now with my urgent question while he/she is working on his/her task?

Everyone will have their own answers. Any simple decision is built on our deep motivations. But what we think and how we live are completely different things. No one doubts that sport is important for health, but does everyone do it regularly? In order to understand your motivations more easily, you can look at decisions you have been made in the past, especially during personal crises.

Why exactly during the crisis? Values easily coexist with each other, especially when everything is good, there is no hurry. At the same time, they have priority. When we cannot do it quickly and efficiently, what will we choose? Our essence consists of such choices. It is very difficult to see it until the critical moment has come - the moment of choice. That is why, for many examples we will choose quite critical moments, when something is urgently needed, or a crisis is pressing. This is the best time to understand yourself and your team.

Values are manifested most of the time of a person’s life. The rare exceptions, when we act contrary to them, quickly destroy a person from the inside. If the father does not consider it possible to hit the child, then he will never do it. Even when drunk and deliberately not in control. Values work at the subconscious level, even in sleep.

I have seen a young, healthy man completely exhausted within a month. He is an excellent specialist, knowledgeable and well prepared. A question arose before me: what made him so weak?

Our body can withstand a lot. Maybe you’ve had the experience of a sports camp where the schedule is 3 intense workouts every day for 10 days in a row. There it is easy to see that the body quickly adapts. At first, it will require a lot of sleep and food, but later, it will enter a normal mode. The main cause of fatigue is not the amount of work and its intensity, but internal conflicts.

Let’s return to our example. This man found himself facing choices that were painful for him. So after all: “quick” or “good”, “nice” or “qualitatively”. He did those things he wasn`t agree with inside, his view did not coincide with the accepted position. He didn’t have to cheat or break the law, but he didn’t live as he thought he should. The feeling that we are living someone else’s life is related to the fact that we are not doing what we think is really important. On the other hand, when we find our own, we can enjoy every day we live.

Contradictions

It is not always possible to combine what we want. Proactiveness and diligence can contradict each other. Let’s take the case when the manager gave a subordinate an urgent task. How to behave if the performer does not agree with him? Can he do the task for longer, but in the way he sees fit? Given that he is an expert on the subject. Having received an urgent task, this person is responsible for its realization, but not for the entire process. His responsibility is local and ends in a week.

At the same time, proactiveness implies that responsibility is “stretched” in space and time. We do not reset after completing one task - quite the opposite. Our work this week will affect the entire company for years to come. Thinking in years is much more difficult. The better we know our values and act according to them, the longer we can look ahead. Then we are responsible for the period of our entire life.

But what is more important, if we use the phrases “gave the task”, “performer”, it is intuitively clear that proactiveness of a person is not particularly important for us. When we set tasks from the top down, rather than making decisions about where to go with the person, we teach subordinates to complete the task, rather than take responsibility for the outcome. Both systems work, and which one to choose depends on the approach. But it would be a mistake to expect initiative from people in such a case, since we, as managers, take it away from them.

Formulation is important. Sometimes we hide reality from ourselves behind the facade of our thoughts. If we want to see ourselves, for example, as strong, then we will not notice the facts that indicate the opposite. And the practice of listening to own statements gives an opportunity to see more of reality, to understand how we think and what our judgments are based on. Values are revealed first of all in little things.

Otherwise, let’s say we believe that the company should use all its capabilities and constantly grow. And management focuses on “high” ideas and intentionally ignores incompatible opportunities. For example, the owner of the company wants the company to be built on maximum ecological friendliness and care for the environment. Therefore, all suppliers and partners must to this idea. Such an approach will reject a huge number of opportunities, growth cannot be fast - you need to check everyone you work with, rebuild old approaches, because the “green” idea is not yet very deeply integrated into the modern economy. If we believe in growth and opportunity, such a manager will constantly provoke aggression in us. We will see prospects and resist his policies. No arguments will help.

But if we value environmentalism but don’t have that experience, then we may initially be angry that management turned away the best opportunity we found. But when we are shown the reason, and we`ll see that the decision of the management corresponds to our beliefs, all contradictions will disappear. And this will inspire and expand the understanding of the company’s goals, which are also our goals.

That is why I am in favor of constant dialogue within the company. Teaching a holistic understanding of the goals and mission of the company is no less important than narrow skills in a specialty. People strive to reduce contradictions in themselves.

The idea that a company is a family has been criticized many times, but it is still used actively. Such a model is difficult to build, because in the family model, a person is more important than his success, relationships are more important than profit. The family does not scale, it should be small and with strong ties. If family is your choice, don’t count on scale. And don’t expect ambitious people to come to work for you and stay.

Company culture

When hiring employees, we often look at the person’s suitability with the company structure, so that they fit into the culture. The difficulty is that we all play different social roles². Our image at work does not always correspond to our true inner state. Yes, an active unprincipled careerist at work can be very responsive in the family. Often we can’t tell which one we are. Therefore, if it seemed that a person completely “fits” into the position, but in fact it turned out that he did not, then perhaps he is not being honest with himself. If a person manifests himself as a liberal on the outside, it does not mean that he is exactly like that on the inside. I saw soft externally people building hard systems, and vice versa.

People can adapt to a variety of values, but they will best reveal their potential for those close to them. It is the inner aspiring of a person that is valuable to us. Seeing it is an extremely important management art. People very rarely intentionally deceive us and try to impersonate someone else. More often they deceive themselves. From the point of view of humanity, we would not like a person to continue lying to himself, but it is not our responsibility. And in fact, it is our duty to prevent this from happening in our company. Increasing contradictions is always a bad thing, unless we have plans to bring the company to ruin.

How to do it? Pay attention to what a person responds to. When her eyes flash. Without observation and interest in people, it is very difficult to build teams. People are always irrational, they cannot be given an assignment and get a result linearly. It doesn’t work in the long run. Management is not only a skill, but an art to a greater extent. You can read hundreds of books, but never learn how to manage. It is our responsibility as a leader to see a person from the inside. Relying on a person’s perspectives that we can see, but which have not yet been revealed, is always a risk, because a person must first take a step towards his true self³. It is unclear whether he will do it, and how much time it will take. We include all this in the risks.

Each position requires special skills, and the person we need will not necessarily fit into the culture^[6]. As the experience of large companies shows, the “right” people often do not look like the image we imagine^[7]. Therefore, in such cases, we rely on our experience and intuition, as well as on understanding the values of the company and this person.

What’s next

Every decision we make is based on values. When choosing whether to go to work today or not, to help a colleague, what to buy in the store, we rely on our worldview and our priorities, which are part of a complex value system.

In the following parts, we will look at how to find your values and the values of the company. This will help us a lot to work with them.