Managing By Values

February 03, 2005

Most managers understand the importance of providing guidance and direction to their employees.

They know that to perform effectively, employees must be explained clearly what is expected of them and how their work performance will be evaluated.

But, how is this done exactly?

Let's say you were to have a conversation with your employees right now, for instance. If you were to explain your expectations of them, what would you tell them?

You might begin, by reviewing your organization's performance goals, such as: revenue targets; customer contacts; response times; and so on. You might also explain to each person how he or she is expected to contribute to those goals.

That would be a great way to start the discussion. Organizations that have established clear, specific performance goals have been shown to outperform those that don't. So far so good.

But then, what about all those other expectations? The ones about how people are expected to behave as a member of the organization. When do you tell them for example, "Oh, and I also expect you to come to work on a reliable basis, to stay on task, to be a good corporate citizen, and to work well with others?"

This is where you can easily get derailed because this part of the discussion, if not overlooked completely, tends to come only after problems surface.

As managers, we tend to rely on "rules" for giving employees guidance in what we expect from them beyond the narrow confines of the job duties. For example, you might point to your organization's code of conduct, employee handbook, or similar document as a source of guidance in this area.

Rules are an essential part of organizational life. They set limits. They establish clear and unmistakable boundaries of what is and is not acceptable. And they're relatively easy to enforce.

Two examples of such rules might be:

• An employee with more than 3 days unscheduled absence within a 30-day period is considered to be excessively absent.
   
• An employee who arrives at work 15 or more minutes past the starting time is considered tardy.

However, rules have several serious limitations when it comes to providing employees a sense of direction, especially for those managers who rely too heavily on them.

Instead of relying on rules, managers should focus on organizational values as a source of guidance and direction for their employees. Reliability is an example of an organizational value.

Why are values more effective than rules?

First, rules merely tell people what NOT to do; they don't teach employees what behavior is desired instead. Values are the answer. They help explain which behaviors are expected and why.

Secondly, rules can often appear as being somewhat arbitrary. Is a person who is 15 minutes late less reliable than someone who is routinely 12 minutes late? In contrast, values are always based on reason, principle, or business necessity. It's generally much easier to get agreement around a set of values, than around rules. Rules speak to "you, the individual." Values speak to "we, the team."

Similarly, rules can be self-defeating. There will always be exceptions to any rule, which serve to weaken it. Whereas, values are constant and strong. They aren't likely to be compromised. By sticking to values, rarely will you be backed into a corner and have to defend apparent inconsistencies.

Finally, rules imply a form of control on the part of some authority figure. They're aim is to ensure compliance. Values, on the other hand encourage self-discipline and aim for commitment to the organization's goals, which is a higher standard than compliance.

The message is this: manage by values whenever you can. Use them to explain your expectations of employees. They provide a much more effective source of guidance and direction than rules. In those instances where you do need to establish or enforce a particular rule, try to relate it back to one or more of the organization's values. Doing so will help you overcome many of the pitfalls described above.

If you don't already have established values to guide your organization, consider developing a list. On the Expert Supervisor website, we've provided a sampling of organizational values which you can use to evaluate your employee's behavior and performance. Click here to see a sample list of organizational values.

Best regards,

Stephen Foster, Ph.D
Expert Supervisor, LLC
1493 Market Street
Tallahassee, FL 32312
(850) 893-5699

E-mail me at: Steve.Foster@ExpertSupervisor.com