Common Mistake #4: Rewarded Actions Not Tied to Corporate Values

Can you recite your company values? More importantly, do you know what the correct application of those values in your workplace would look like? Do you understand what your senior management team is trying to get at with your corporate values?

If you’re a senior manager, do you feel like your teams fully understand your values? Do you believe the culture you are trying to instill through your values is actually permeating through to all employees, at all levels, in all locations?

We’ve found with the majority of our clients that values adoption and understanding at this level is not common. We – and our clients – have proven that a successful recognition program builds on a foundation of awards that are linked to the company values. In this system, anyone nominating someone for recognition must tie that behavior deserving of recognition to a company value. For example: “John really behaved with INTEGRITY when reporting that sticky situation with customer X.” or “Susan showed great DETERMINATION in meeting the project deadline in a very tough situation.” Then the recipient is also reminded of the values when opening the reward.

When all nominated activities are associated with a company value, the value system comes alive for all participants. Monthly dashboards then illustrate for managers the traction of each company value by region, division or department based on the amount of employees that have won awards for exhibiting each value. Targeted management intervention on low penetration values then becomes possible.

Do you see a benefit to your company in making your value system come alive this way?