Mindshifting is recognizing and shifting from the mindsets that hold us back to the mindsets that push us forward. I write about mindsets, Mindshifting, learning, and education, with the hope that these posts give readers more power over their own lives and helps them give others, like their students, more power as well.
Do an organization’s values influence the mindsets and actions of its members?
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I was brought up short this week by a post condemning values. Or rather, values statements by organizations. Paul Sweeney, on his Disruption Space blog, used an excerpt from his book Magnetic Nonsense: A Short History of Bullshit at Work and How to Make it Go Away, and gave some thought provoking examples of worthless values statements. Here are three. People who Act with integrityThis was Ernst & Young’s number one value at the time the company knew some its auditors were cheating on exams and did not stop it. Safety, Quality, IntegrityBoeing’s values during the time it was hiding information from safety officials about the 737 Max, which was implicated in two fatal crashes. What’s Right for Customers, Ethics, People as a Competitive Advantage, LeadershipWells Fargo Bank’s, as their employees were opening millions of accounts without their customers’ knowledge. Sweeney maintains that organizational values fall in four categories. 1) Silly Inverse ValuesThese are values such as integrity, ethics, and responsible. Inverse meaning that no one would ever subscribe to their inverse (dishonest, unethical, irresponsible) so that just makes them silly. 2) Delusional ValuesThese are aspirational but don’t reflect the real life organization. The organization may articulate critical thinking for example, but what they measure and reward is compliance, they may say they value innovation, but attempts that don’t succeed get punished. 3) Compliance RebadgedThese are things the company has to legally demonstrate compliance, so it’s just rebadging something they have to do in order to stay in business. Like cleanliness for a pharmaceutical lab would be euphonism for, “we will comply with all regulations to keep our labs free from contamination.” 4) Basic Work StuffThings that everyone does most of the time anyhow. Like working in teamwork or collaboration. No organization could exist if its members didn’t work and collaborate. That’s what an organization does. What do you think?Do people behave differently because of values a company displays on posters and coffee cups? When an organization issues its value statement, is it delusional or at best benign, or is it inspirational? |
Mindshifting Educators
Mindshifting is recognizing and shifting from the mindsets that hold us back to the mindsets that push us forward. I write about mindsets, Mindshifting, learning, and education, with the hope that these posts give readers more power over their own lives and helps them give others, like their students, more power as well.
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