The big idea: achieve clarity in your organization’s culture framework.
Build clarity, alignment and deliver results through values, principles, and behaviours within an organization.
As you work in organizations, you will be familiar with values and principles. However, there is often a big misunderstanding about what these mean.
To understand the topics of values, principles, and behaviours, we unpack how to…
- Improve clarity of who your organization is, what they do and how they do it;
- Why we have principles;
- The difference between values, principles and behaviours, and;
- How you can think about your own.
Listen & watch ‘EX Culture Framework | The Difference Between Values, Principles & Behaviours’
(Keep reading on for more content.)
Transcript
EX Culture Framework
00:02
welcome to leadership talk
00:04
the official waymaker podcast where we
00:08
how your organization can achieve more
00:21
welcome to leadership talk the official
00:23
waymaker podcast i’m your host craig and
00:26
as always is my good friend stuart leo
00:29
founder and ceo of waymaker how are you
00:31
i’m great craig how are you uh good a
00:33
little sad though stu because
00:35
you know you and i were supposed to be
00:38
but i think we’re in you know lock down
00:44
here in australia so um so yeah we had
00:48
to cancel a whole bunch of plants that’s
00:50
we did we’ll have to build those
00:51
underground tunnels between queensland
00:53
and south australia and melbourne and
00:56
we might we might get there before
00:58
before two for restrictions ease
01:00
i’ll probably end up on a watch list
01:04
oh but it means i’ve had a little bit
01:06
more time to like kick back and listen
01:08
to some podcasts and read some books and
01:09
stuff okay all right before we get into
01:11
this stu what have you been reading
01:12
oh that’s a good question actually you
01:14
know what i have been reading
01:16
i’ve been re-reading the um the story of
01:22
uh the book the greatest adventure story
01:25
by alfred lansing and uh and it’s
01:30
probably a little precursor we’re going
01:31
to do some stuff around this in the
01:34
and it was because about gosh almost 20
01:38
on a leadership course when i was in a
01:42
they they bundled people off every every
01:45
you didn’t go to antarctica though did
01:52
um okay uh we did this big leadership
01:56
on earth shackleton which is fantastic
01:58
i’m gonna dig out some of the stuff
02:00
because i just love it and
02:01
so i’ve been rereading it as a as a
02:05
man and just finding hidden gems
02:09
it’s a great book just it’s so many good
02:13
leadership principles and challenges and
02:14
if you don’t know the story
02:16
you know ernest shackleton
02:19
led an expedition to antarctica
02:22
to do the first crossing on land of
02:26
of antarctica on ice really but the
02:29
um cost of fortune he got 20 or 30 guys
02:33
it was it took a while to fund it and
02:36
just the day they were meant to set off
02:40
or just before they were meant to set
02:43
europe went to war at 1914
02:46
and there was this big moment where
02:50
the government was funding a big part of
02:53
we think we should stop and serve and so
02:55
they all stopped and went no we should
02:58
in the great war and and at the time
03:01
that the government said that
03:03
the king queen and um prime minister
03:06
no no this expedition matters go and do
03:10
they went and did it um and the mission
03:15
a complete and utter failure uh
03:18
and and they didn’t didn’t meet their
03:21
they got stuck in the ice um they spent
03:25
nine months wintering on the ice in
03:27
their in their boat the uh
03:29
the endurance and as spring hit the ice
03:33
and they’re left standing on on ice
03:35
floes in antarctica you’ve got to
03:36
remember this is before radios
03:38
and they had no hope of rescue the only
03:42
and the greatest adventure story told
03:45
shackleton just had this dogged
03:49
they would get home however and whatever
03:52
they would get home and he would bring
03:55
and it’s the story of of sticking
03:58
together and surviving together
04:00
as a team and ultimately getting home
04:03
which if you think he said you’re stuck
04:06
on a moving ice flow with your with your
04:10
in in minus 20 celsius degrees uh in
04:15
i reckon at those moments um
04:18
that the hope of getting home is
04:22
so it’s just an amazing story of
04:26
organizational management resource
04:30
morale management looking out for your
04:34
and risk-taking and never giving up
04:37
so amazing okay i know that’s so good
04:41
let’s use blinkist version of the book
04:44
there you go and yep and um uh
04:48
well did you learn any values principles
04:51
when reading when reading the books you
04:55
because that’s what we’re going to talk
04:56
about today that’s right um
04:58
i certainly did thank you the beautiful
05:02
thank you craig yeah it’s wonderful so
05:05
i certainly did i won’t go into them now
05:08
we are talking values um principles and
05:16
one of the one of the big
05:18
misunderstandings i think in
05:21
leadership land as as you work with
05:26
and you ask them about values and
05:30
and 9.9 times out of 10 they’re like
05:32
what the what’s the difference
05:33
what do we have oh we’ve got we’ve got a
05:36
set of values see they’re stuck up on
05:39
and and so our mantra is very much
05:42
um clarity alignment and results you
05:45
know they’re the big three things that
05:48
um as a coach or a consultant you’re
05:50
helping your clients build clarity
05:52
get alignment deliver results if you’re
05:55
as a business or an organization you’re
05:57
continuously improving your clarity of
05:59
who you are what you do and how you do
06:01
you’re aligning your team to get there
06:04
you’re delivering and and waymaker’s
06:08
um the diagnostic tools the roadmapping
06:12
and and giving you insights into where
06:14
are we on our journey to there
06:20
let’s dig in deep around this often
06:24
bucket of stuff values and principles
06:28
and beliefs and behaviors and
06:30
how do you organize it how do you pull
06:34
a good place to start might be then to
06:35
actually kind of define our terms a
06:37
little bit and what’s the difference
06:44
uh is is is a virtue virtue
06:48
frames beliefs um but it’s it’s
06:52
or honesty or hospitality or something
07:04
is a guiding rule or a guideline
07:07
built off one or many values okay
07:11
and a behavior is something we do
07:17
so um so if for example if your value is
07:22
your principle would be yeah so
07:25
okay let’s use that as an example okay
07:28
value truth um great truth is a value
07:33
what’s the principle well the principle
07:35
our principle that we’ve desired
07:37
defined because we value truth is that
07:39
we’re always going to tell the truth
07:42
that’s a principle let’s always tell the
07:43
truth that’s a guiding rule
07:45
um it’s a guideline it’s a rule yeah the
07:49
i told the truth okay or i didn’t tell
07:53
so now i have an objective way of going
07:56
yeah yeah and so so when we think about
08:00
principles and behaviors as we’re
08:01
building culture and remember our big
08:03
context here is we’re working through
08:05
employee experience ex so if you’re
08:07
following along at home on our
08:09
on our framework we have a leadership
08:14
curve that gets you from point a to
08:16
idea through to market leadership
08:19
we have six functions that are sorry
08:22
six functions with seven questions that
08:25
the every time you ask and answer those
08:28
you’re improving your clarity you’re
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moving up that growth curve
08:31
of being a better organization and and
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um six areas that we ask the questions
08:38
market strategy business model customer
08:40
experience and employee experience
08:42
and we’re in employee experience so i
08:45
clarity and anchor us there so if
08:48
if we wanted to just deep dive a little
08:53
then and so we’ve used the example of
08:55
truth there like so if we if we took a
08:57
value like respect for example
08:59
uh where where do things start to get
09:01
gray where does it start to
09:03
get confusing yeah and that’s the
09:07
what you’re hitting on here is why
09:09
bother why do we even talk about this
09:11
um and and so the first question is
09:14
well why bother having values or
09:18
and i think that’s an easy answer uh
09:21
if you don’t then um you’ll do anything
09:24
needs to get done done and that means
09:27
that you’ll probably end up in jail
09:32
and before that you you might have
09:35
so many rules friendships guidelines and
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um it may be unrecoverable so values
09:45
these principles guide us in bringing
09:50
so that we can establish the right
09:52
behaviors across an organization
09:54
so let’s use an example um because
09:57
often what happens is an organization
10:00
goes uh these are our values and they’ll
10:02
one word statements like a respect or an
10:07
integrity or you know i reckon you could
10:11
um the the fortune 500 and
10:14
you know you could guess the values that
10:17
across an organization it’s a bit of a
10:20
the 70s and 80s of this vision mission
10:24
thing that that was structured okay
10:28
so where does the problem occur so let’s
10:31
um we what value did you say excellence
10:35
respect okay great so let’s say we’ve
10:39
um the company says respect is the value
10:44
how could we get that wrong well there’s
10:46
nothing wrong with the idea of respect
10:52
what happens if i define respect
10:55
to the way you define respect
11:06
if i turn up to the meeting late
11:09
i don’t have respect but if i define
11:13
for um getting the job done no matter
11:20
and so i’ve defined this respect as
11:24
the rule of getting the job done this is
11:27
the most important thing i’m not going
11:28
to turn up to that meeting because
11:30
this is the most important thing getting
11:33
is what i’m respecting here then i’ve
11:37
um and you could say oh well respect the
11:40
person give them a call tell them you’re
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but what we’re saying here is that i can
11:48
in one way another person can interpret
11:52
and we can justify two opposing sets of
12:00
um uh have respect for the rules
12:03
of getting the job done no matter what
12:05
then i’ll be dog-minded and
12:07
live that value out to its full degree
12:09
going i’m doing nothing but getting this
12:11
nobody’s going to stand in my way or if
12:14
i have respect for my teammates my
12:19
i’m going to turn up to that meeting on
12:23
um what we’re talking about and and i’m
12:25
picking a bit of a silly example here
12:27
i’m just trying to highlight that i can
12:33
and create a principle if principles
12:38
justify my behavior because i’ve let the
12:41
value define the principle
12:43
and there’s been no discussion around
12:45
defining those principles
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and so often what happens is values then
12:52
i’d like to play the respect card right
12:54
now because that suits me
12:56
i’d like and and so we act in a way
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that suits us and and we’re not we’re
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we’re using the values as playing cards
13:08
time to play the respect card i’m not
13:10
happy with what they’re doing you’re not
13:12
respecting me i’m going to play the
13:14
um and and so what that creates
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inside organizations is a disbelief
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of values and principles and a
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fluid world of i’m not sure where i
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and and so people struggle to actually
13:34
find a belonging and a concrete place to
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because they don’t actually know if they
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because if they take action they
13:44
actually might get crucified for it
13:47
so they don’t take action so what
13:50
people just do what they have to do and
13:53
and and so this idea of bringing
13:56
clarity and concreteness to
13:59
what we mean when we talk about values
14:03
is is about articulating principles
14:06
rules and guidelines off these values so
14:09
that we can frame the right behaviors
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and and so that’s that’s the problem um
14:15
we in organizations go oh we’ve done the
14:17
values bit with picks and values
14:19
yeah we we value honesty uh
14:22
and respect and trust and excellence and
14:26
and communication uh that sounds good
14:28
doesn’t it oh that makes us all feel
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and and really i reckon within about two
14:33
months that’s all going to go to crap
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and you’re going to be going why don’t
14:37
people live our values because they
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don’t actually really know what you mean
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and and that’s the problem so
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it’s not enough just to have you know
14:45
brand values that you stick up on your
14:47
wall or whatever integrity
14:48
you know honesty respect um those types
14:52
uh our principles are basically is what
14:55
adds meat to the value yeah it actually
14:59
you know our guidelines um our framework
15:03
in which to operate yeah that’s not a
15:04
bad way of putting it and sometimes we
15:07
actually take two or three values
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in order to articulate a principle
15:13
okay so if we said we value consistency
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then a good principle out of that is we
15:23
now how we tell it might be shaped by
15:27
of compassion and empathy
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be kind be kind right now be
15:38
be passionate i was going to say let’s
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we’re on a video conference so i don’t
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let’s say we’re meeting and um uh i have
15:48
you know i’ve had three coffees didn’t
15:50
brush my teeth because i’m
15:51
not caring for myself and you could just
16:00
but you’re not demonstrating that
16:03
um we could be a customer situation
16:06
customer comes in and they’re obviously
16:08
wrong they don’t know how to use the
16:11
and so they’re returning it for failure
16:13
well we could turn around and go
16:16
you’re just dumb um that would be
16:19
telling no that’s not telling the truth
16:27
but really um what we’re doing is going
16:30
actually there’s a there’s a failure to
16:32
um that actually sits on us let’s have
16:35
some empathy in the situation
16:37
uh let’s unpack the issue um the issue
16:41
you know what let’s accept that because
16:42
that’s empathy and consistency
16:44
um and will help you so i’m what i’m
16:47
trying to say so a principle
16:48
so a principle around a value might be
16:50
tell the truth with respect and
16:53
yeah yeah right but then respect is
16:56
another value so you’ve got to make sure
16:58
that respect is defined as well right
17:00
yeah and that’s okay and and and what
17:03
we’re not trying to create a set
17:08
that yeah you know oh gosh um i’ve got
17:11
to look up the rule book to know if i
17:13
yeah um if we bring some clarity
17:16
to the values of what we believe and we
17:20
four five or six guiding principles
17:23
then typically that is more than enough
17:28
and then behaviors can be infinite
17:32
you know the last thing we want to do is
17:38
the oh gosh you breached convention
17:42
103.5 therefore we need to have a
17:46
judiciary discussion um no no no
17:49
um we need to equip and empower people
17:55
the baseline of core beliefs and
17:59
set the the the way we’re going to
18:04
those beliefs and so if we go back
18:07
a few podcasts where we talked about
18:11
transformation diagnostic the
18:14
what we’ve built the diagnostic on the
18:18
that i’ve referred to in the past at the
18:22
is our as our worldview assumptions and
18:24
beliefs the mental models
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that’s where the values sit sitting
18:28
above that at the organizational
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that’s where principles start to come
18:35
because we’re saying we believe in truth
18:36
we believe in honesty we believe in
18:40
okay what does that mean we outwork it
18:43
if we’re world vision we outwork those
18:47
by sponsoring children feeding the poor
18:50
helping the hungry if we’re a
18:53
a hotel in in the tourism market we
18:57
with a great guest experience and
19:00
treating people all people with respect
19:04
whether you’re a billionaire that’s come
19:07
or whether you’re a homeless person
19:11
um and and and we’re going to treat you
19:14
respect because we hold these core
19:17
values is that making sense
19:18
yeah so stu i’ve got to got a curveball
19:21
for you if we say a value is a virtue or
19:24
that guides our beliefs and a principle
19:26
is a rule or a guideline that’s
19:28
built on that value the classic
19:31
adage in business the customer is always
19:35
is that a value or a principle
19:40
i would say that’s an objective
19:41
statement that actually is
19:43
um not always true the customer isn’t
19:47
yeah yet yeah in an organization if
19:51
if that’s that would be a principle
19:54
would that be a principle or yeah that’s
19:56
not about that okay yeah i see where
19:58
um yeah you could you could set that as
20:00
a principle the customer is always right
20:02
um okay what kind of behavior is that
20:10
that the the staff member or the
20:14
is going to bow to the whims of the
20:19
yeah yeah um and and so you could set
20:24
so you might say um customer service
20:28
is um a value or service is our core
20:32
yeah therefore we want to build a
20:33
principle around customer service
20:36
therefore we’re going to say the core
20:38
principle of our organization is the
20:44
and therefore when a customer complaint
20:47
if the customer says this product
20:51
well you have to interpret that as this
20:54
so you would say yes you are correct the
20:58
whether it worked or didn’t work that’s
21:00
what you would be required to do based
21:03
because going against that principle um
21:07
um against your core values and
21:10
principles of the organization
21:11
now you we could assess the merits
21:18
we could say oh gosh is that is that a
21:22
does that actually achieve the right
21:25
and i think you could build a case with
21:27
that particular statement
21:28
and go actually no i there are times
21:30
when that would work against us
21:32
as an organization because it
21:35
puts you in situations where you would
21:37
go i’m not going to educate i’m not
21:40
i’m not going to help the customer
21:43
outcome the problem to solve i’m just
21:45
going to they’re always going to be
21:46
right therefore i’m always going to bow
21:48
and as we’ll talk about in future
21:55
not every customer is the best fit for
22:00
and and so um just saying the customer
22:02
is right is actually a bit of a fallacy
22:04
but i’m off on a different tangent and i
22:06
that’s all right i wanted to i wanted to
22:10
the the principles versus value thing so
22:12
you’re saying that that would be based
22:13
off a value of say customer service or a
22:16
service is paramount we face a principle
22:18
which says customer is always right
22:20
which leads to a behavior which is kind
22:21
of the third thing that we want to talk
22:24
ultimately a value god is a virtue that
22:29
a principle um is a rule or a guideline
22:32
that we use to help frame that value um
22:36
kind of the result of that principle in
22:38
action yep yeah you’ve nailed it and if
22:40
you’re listening going oh that’s that’s
22:42
helpful i’m starting to get some clarity
22:44
around values and principles and
22:48
um what did we say earlier truth is a
22:52
a principle is will always tell the
22:56
i always told the truth um so it
23:03
i think a value is the higher is that
23:05
highest context that frames a principle
23:08
or a set of principles and the
23:12
the behaviors and the behaviours are
23:15
an infinite number of behaviors that
23:18
the principle of we’ll always tell the
23:25
what we really want to be doing in our
23:29
conversations is setting up people
23:43
without having to check the rule book
23:50
release people not constrained people
23:53
and and that’s the big idea
23:56
can you give me an example of a good
23:58
principle versus a bad one we’ve
23:59
probably maybe highlighted a bad one
24:01
can you give me an example of a good one
24:06
let’s let’s pick a value so um
24:09
if you’re working with a coach or a
24:11
consultant um in waymaker one of their
24:13
in one of their toolkits they’ll have um
24:17
have a set of values it’s actually in
24:24
i think we’ve got about gosh i don’t
24:27
60 70 80 values sitting on a page right
24:30
things like hard work practicality
24:34
ease of use efficiency equality
24:36
challenge change cleanliness
24:39
um their core values their values um
24:42
uh so let’s pick one let’s pick
24:50
let’s build a principle of creativity
24:52
and let’s say let’s pick pick a firm
24:54
who could we be pick a brand
24:57
well my favorite brand apple okay
25:01
um this is a good feature can i say that
25:04
you can say that we have a principle of
25:08
telling the truth you’re allowed to say
25:10
so we value creativity yeah how could we
25:14
turn that into a principle
25:19
um we’ll always strive to
25:24
promote our products in new fresh
25:26
creative ways i don’t know
25:28
can i use a value in the definition yes
25:31
clearly i don’t have notes on this
25:34
yeah i mean in fact one of the ways
25:38
brought that value to life and that and
25:42
right into the creative execution yeah
25:45
they for um a long time established the
25:49
which which they used as a positioning
25:52
of think different different yeah that
25:55
so internally they’ve said we’re going
25:59
the world is doing this over in pc world
26:03
ibm and microsoft so we’re going back to
26:08
that’s a long time ago um they’re doing
26:12
okay we need to think differently in
26:16
um because we value creativity
26:20
so let’s think different and think
26:25
went from being an internal principle of
26:29
external creative messaging
26:32
and what they had was a really nice
26:35
we believe in thinking different we do
26:39
that think differently we make stuff
26:41
that’s different for these reasons
26:43
and we promise that to the market so
26:47
one of the things and this is a good
26:50
is that we can sometimes confuse
26:52
organizational principles
26:55
with brand pillars and and or
26:57
competitive advantages and i want to
27:00
i want to just say now we’re not going
27:02
to dig it into this episode but they’re
27:06
if if you’re used to hearing the term
27:11
principles or brand pillars that’s okay
27:14
we’re not talking about that we’re
27:16
actually talking about organizational
27:18
sometimes they translate in
27:21
to others or or get expressed in a
27:25
so there’s connectivity and that’s a
27:26
good thing but we’re not talking about
27:29
underlying values and principles that
27:32
sometimes those behaviors um
27:35
uh end up framing external messaging
27:38
not a bad thing in fact it’s what you
27:42
in in in the case of apple we’ve got
27:45
would permeate every from engineering to
27:49
marketing to yeah i don’t know
27:55
so here’s a good example isn’t it
28:00
you actually would want it to permeate
28:03
uh this is where you would balance with
28:07
of um honesty and integrity and fairness
28:10
well their values but setting up the
28:13
um going we’re not gonna we’re not gonna
28:17
we’re going to be creative accountants
28:24
for better or worse apple might
28:27
base their operations in dublin
28:31
because it has a 12 corporate tax rate
28:34
sydney which has a 28 30 tax rate
28:41
i hope we’re making sense and there’s
28:43
difference between values
28:45
principles um behaviours so but that’s a
28:48
good one so let’s pick another one well
28:49
like if you’re in the hospitality
28:50
industry like so let’s say our values
28:53
for example okay yeah great so that’s a
28:56
good value excellence i would like to
28:59
at a hotel or a resort that values
29:03
excellence um that would fill me with
29:08
but the way ritz carlton values
29:11
excellence might be different to the way
29:17
marriott courtyard values excellence
29:21
so this is a good way of expressing
29:26
so we could articulate a principle of um
29:30
excellence in customer service
29:33
and guest experience and then we could
29:36
start to put some behaviors and clarity
29:40
that doesn’t mean it’s excellence in
29:44
and concierge experiences that’s a
29:47
different type of excellence so
29:49
so we can we can start to use principles
29:53
shape and guide culture which shapes and
29:56
guides the product or services we’re
30:03
so then so we’ve talked about values
30:06
we’ve talked about principles uh
30:08
and they ultimately lead to you know
30:11
whatever um uh so a behavior
30:15
most simply would be the actions that
30:18
result from a principle like from
30:21
applying a principle right from applying
30:23
yeah so i mean what do we want as
30:27
people how to deliver in our
30:29
organizations so we want us
30:31
we want to help them behave
30:35
and learn how to behave so they can
30:38
teach those around them they can they
30:40
can translate the culture the way we do
30:43
out around the organization so
30:46
what we don’t want and this is coming
30:48
back to the problem to solve we don’t
30:51
micro pockets of cultures where
30:54
let’s say we’re a bigger organization
30:57
one part of the organization is based in
30:59
one city and they’ve interpreted truth
31:02
to mean this and another organized part
31:04
of the organization is in another
31:06
part of the city city or another city
31:08
and they’ve interpreted truth to mean
31:10
well now we actually have opposing world
31:14
views inside one organization
31:16
which means working together and
31:19
going to be a problem at some point and
31:22
what we’re doing is we’re helping shape
31:24
the culture by clarifying what we mean
31:27
from values core beliefs into principles
31:32
and that then sets up the conversation
31:37
for achieving the best out of those
31:46
practice um let’s say excellence
31:49
um and let’s say we’re a we’re a hotel
31:52
and we say we believe in excellence that
31:53
means we believe in excellence in
31:56
i can’t remember what i said service and
31:58
guest experience okay great a best
32:06
uh you’re you’re given a complimentary
32:10
glass of champagne now um
32:14
at the hilton that might mean a 20
32:18
on ice in your room at the ibis
32:31
all sponsorship deals from just go on
32:35
that might mean uh you know a little bit
32:37
of paper that you take to the
32:38
or a token you take to the vending
32:43
but that’s best practice for that
32:46
you know obviously that’s best practice
32:48
for that experience in the hilton
32:50
um neither are right nor wrong they’re
32:53
the expressions of the best practice
32:54
behaviours that we want to establish in
32:57
does that make sense yep sorry to throw
32:59
you under the bus there mate
33:02
we’ll just okay so how does waymaker
33:04
help us achieve you know clarity around
33:08
yeah good question why are we talking
33:11
we’re talking about this because
33:16
get clearer clarity yeah build alignment