Values and Beliefs - Their rightful place

I generally hate writing in my personal blog about the clients that I work for. This time I’m going to make a small exception, but then I won’t be mentioning names.

We read about vision, mission and values and how they form the core of the strategic road map for any company. Then there are companies who say something on their website and do something else at their offices. A lot more companies develop values in a vacuum. Stop an employee on his way to the cafeteria and ask him about the vision and values of his company and you’ll find him searching empty gray cells. And then there are these repulsive value statements that are created just to form the perfect acronym.

It’s refreshing to find among a plethora of companies that just have no clue about what to do with their value statements, one Indian company that says it and practices its values with great conviction. One company where every employee nods his head when brought to the topic of values and beliefs. One company that does not need the perfect acronym for its employees to remember the whole list. One company that has shaped the organizational culture around its values & beliefs and year after year measures its employee’s performance on adherence to those values and beliefs.

Apart from their commitment and the fact that they have been able to inculcate a strong culture in the organization quite early on, the one thing that has brought me to write this post is some of their interesting value statements.

Humility – While the statement on their website simply talks about respecting intellect and disliking false pride, the way it is cascaded to employees is more about accepting what you don’t know and learning from the one who knows.

Respect for the Individual – treat people with dignity, sensitivity and honor. Employees are measured on their conduct when they interact with other people on the job.

On the outside these are values you would find on a number of value statements, but if you look at the company legacy you would realize how this suddenly makes sense for them. How do you deal with culture in an organization that has a mix of employees, right from baby-boomers to generation Y? Help the baby-boomers to demonstrate humility and the generation Y to inculcate respect for the individual!