Jesse Jacoby
It’s been suggested that you can increase team performance by creating values that all members share.
Sounds like a great idea, right?
What could be better than if everyone had the same red lines, if everyone held themselves to a particular code of ethics, or insisted on a minimum standard of work?
Just imagine the harmony.
There would be no disagreements, no infighting, and no betrayal.
Everyone would always do what was expected of them.
Sound like a pipe dream?
Good, because it is.
The problem with creating shared values is that the tail is wagging the dog. You’re trying to fake it until you make it. You’re asking a group of people to function as a unit by acting in a way that isn’t consistent with who they are.
Hold that thought.
For some period, character actors will take on the persona of the individual that they’re trying to portray, that person that they want you, the audience, to believe they are.
Tom Cruise wants you to believe that he’s really Ethan Hunt. Tom Hanks wants you to believe that he’s Mr. Rogers. Daniel Craig wants you to believe that he’s James Bond. And if, when you see them in a movie, that’s who think they are, then they’ve succeeded.
But even actors need to be themselves most of the time; not the person that they sometimes pretend to be.
Now the difference between actors who play a part and people who act according to their values is that the former follows a script. It’s true that sometimes actors ad lib a little bit, but usually, they’re simply repeating the carefully crafted words of someone else, albeit with the emotion of the character that they play. That’s much easier than pretending to be someone you’re not without a script.
When you expect people to subscribe to a code of sorts that’s different from the values that they hold, then you’re really asking them to act like someone else. People go to acting school to learn how to do this. It’s beyond the skill of the average person.
So, the answer to the question, “Should you try to create shared values?” Is “No,” and that’s because you can’t assume that people will follow them even if you do.
What, then, should you do?
You should decide what values are important to you, and then hire people who have them already. Now, instead of expecting them to act out of character, you’ll know that what comes naturally to them is consistent with the values that you want.
If, for example, you consider yourself to be an honest person, then you’ll probably prefer to deal with others who are honest.
If, however, you tend to wink at what you consider to be minor infractions, then you won’t mind having people around you who are the same way.
All of us prefer people who are like us. Birds of a feather flock together.
Decades ago, that was the mantra. Hire for attitude; train for skill. Somewhere along the way, organizations forgot this. They went back to hiring for skill. The only reason why they’d even think about trying to create shared values is if they weren’t there in the first place.
And here’s the thing: Short of a spiritual transformation, people’s values don’t change. People are what they are. They think like they do, and they act like they do because that’s who they are.
Therefore, if you want them to share the same values, then you must hire the ones who have those values already. But don’t expect to hire a bunch of folks who have disparate values, and then after figuring out the ones you want, get everyone to conform to them.
They may be able to conform to them for a time, but it won’t last.
Why are shared values important?
A group of people who share the same values also have the same expectations. They know how their peers are likely to behave in most circumstances, which means that there will be few surprises. And that means that they’ll rarely offend or misunderstand one another. Instead, they’ll all pull in the same direction most of the time.
They’ll happily work for the same ends because they all believe in them.
When you hire people who already share the same values, then the relationships among them are stronger. That’s because at their core, they already believe the same things are important. And so instead of the tail wagging the dog, as it is when you try to create shared values, the dog is wagging its tail, as it should.
Shared values work better when they’re genuine than when they’re contrived or artificial.
Some organizations have tried to create them by supporting a worthy cause. This approach can enable people to work together where they might not otherwise because they all feel a sense of responsibility towards the success of that need; but it should not be seen in any way as a substitute for employing people who already share the values that you want.
Those who share your values will be more likely to support a cause that’s important to you, than those whose values are different.
So why not hire them instead? It makes no sense to do it any other way.
Of course, assembling a workforce that shares the same values won’t occur overnight. It will take time.
One way that organizations do this is by having the team interview the candidates. This doesn’t have to happen at every step in the process, but when the number of applicants has been whittled down and those that remain all look pretty much the same, then this is when the team members themselves can get a sense of who shares their values most closely, and who would fit in with them the best.
It’s a bit of a misnomer to suggest that you can create shared values. People either share them or they don’t.
The key is to find the people that do and to bring them together.
After that, the rest is easy.
