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
00:07
explore
00:08
how your organization can achieve more
00:11
by doing less
00:17
[Music]
00:18
[Applause]
00:19
[Music]
00:21
welcome to leadership talk the official
00:23
waymaker podcast i’m your host craig and
00:26
with me
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
00:36
hanging out but
00:38
but i think we’re in you know lock down
00:39
800.
00:41
that’s right the moment
00:44
here in australia so um so yeah we had
00:48
to cancel a whole bunch of plants that’s
00:49
unfortunate
00:50
we did we’ll have to build those
00:51
underground tunnels between queensland
00:53
and south australia and melbourne and
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new south wales
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
01:02
after saying that
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
01:20
ernest shackleton
01:22
uh the book the greatest adventure story
01:24
ever told
01:25
by alfred lansing and uh and it’s
01:28
fantastic in fact
01:30
probably a little precursor we’re going
01:31
to do some stuff around this in the
01:32
future
01:34
and it was because about gosh almost 20
01:37
years ago i went on a
01:38
on a leadership course when i was in a
01:40
corporation and they
01:42
they they bundled people off every every
01:44
year to
01:45
you didn’t go to antarctica though did
01:46
you no no no atlanta
01:48
atlanta georgia stoneman
01:52
um okay uh we did this big leadership
01:55
course on uh
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
02:04
older wiser
02:05
man and just finding hidden gems
02:08
everywhere so
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
mission
02:29
um cost of fortune he got 20 or 30 guys
02:33
together
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
02:41
off um
02:43
europe went to war at 1914
02:46
and there was this big moment where
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because
02:50
the government was funding a big part of
02:52
it they stopped and went
02:53
we think we should stop and serve and so
02:55
they all stopped and went no we should
02:57
sign up and serve
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
said
03:06
no no this expedition matters go and do
03:09
it and so they
03:10
they went and did it um and the mission
03:13
was actually
03:15
a complete and utter failure uh
03:18
and and they didn’t didn’t meet their
03:20
objective
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
03:32
crushed the boat
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
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and they had no hope of rescue the only
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way out
03:42
and the greatest adventure story told
03:44
because
03:45
shackleton just had this dogged
03:47
determination that
03:49
they would get home however and whatever
03:52
they would get home and he would bring
03:54
every every man home
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
04:08
boat crushed
04:10
in in minus 20 celsius degrees uh in
04:14
antarctica
04:15
i reckon at those moments um
04:18
that the hope of getting home is
04:21
crushing
04:22
so it’s just an amazing story of
04:25
leadership
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organizational management resource
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management
04:30
morale management looking out for your
04:32
fellow human being
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and risk-taking and never giving up
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so amazing okay i know that’s so good
04:40
we’ll do some
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
04:50
and behaviors uh
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when reading when reading the books you
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because
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
05:01
segway
05:02
thank you craig yeah it’s wonderful so
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um
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i certainly did i won’t go into them now
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but um right
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we are talking values um principles and
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behaviors
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and and it’s actually
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one of the one of the big
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misunderstandings i think in
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organization
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leadership land as as you work with
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organizations
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and you ask them about values and
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principles and
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and 9.9 times out of 10 they’re like
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what the what’s the difference
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what do we have oh we’ve got we’ve got a
05:36
set of values see they’re stuck up on
05:37
the wall
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and and so our mantra is very much
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um clarity alignment and results you
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know they’re the big three things that
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if you’re using waymaker
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
05:53
using waymaker as a
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as a business or an organization you’re
05:57
continuously improving your clarity of
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who you are what you do and how you do
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it
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you’re aligning your team to get there
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and
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you’re delivering and and waymaker’s
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providing
06:08
um the diagnostic tools the roadmapping
06:10
the goal management
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and and giving you insights into where
06:14
are we on our journey to there
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and so um today uh
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let’s dig in deep around this often
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confusing
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bucket of stuff values and principles
06:28
and beliefs and behaviors and
06:30
how do you organize it how do you pull
06:32
together yeah
06:34
a good place to start might be then to
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actually kind of define our terms a
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little bit and what’s the difference
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between the three
06:40
stu um so a value
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uh is is is a virtue virtue
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frames beliefs um but it’s it’s
06:50
something like truth
06:52
or honesty or hospitality or something
06:55
that can be believed in
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um a
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principle
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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
07:15
because of a principle
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so um so if for example if your value is
07:21
truth
07:22
your principle would be yeah so
07:25
okay let’s use that as an example okay
07:28
we
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
07:48
behavior is
07:49
i told the truth okay or i didn’t tell
07:52
the truth
07:53
so now i have an objective way of going
07:55
measurable
07:56
yeah yeah and so so when we think about
07:59
values
08:00
principles and behaviors as we’re
08:01
building culture and remember our big
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context here is we’re working through
08:05
employee experience ex so if you’re
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following along at home on our
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on our framework we have a leadership
08:14
curve that gets you from point a to
08:15
point b
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idea through to market leadership
08:19
we have six functions that are sorry
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six functions with seven questions that
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the every time you ask and answer those
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seven questions
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you’re improving your clarity you’re
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moving up that growth curve
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of being a better organization and and
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those
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um six areas that we ask the questions
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around division
08:38
market strategy business model customer
08:40
experience and employee experience
08:42
and we’re in employee experience so i
08:44
just thought i’d set
08:45
clarity and anchor us there so if
08:48
if we wanted to just deep dive a little
08:50
bit more into value
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
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get confusing yeah and that’s the
09:06
problem so let’s
09:07
what you’re hitting on here is why
09:09
bother why do we even talk about this
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um and and so the first question is
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well why bother having values or
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principles um
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and i think that’s an easy answer uh
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well if
09:21
if you don’t then um you’ll do anything
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to get whatever
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needs to get done done and that means
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that you’ll probably end up in jail
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alone broke
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and before that you you might have
09:34
broken
09:35
so many rules friendships guidelines and
09:37
laws that
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um it may be unrecoverable so values
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are beliefs values
09:45
these principles guide us in bringing
09:48
clarity to those values
09:50
so that we can establish the right
09:52
behaviors across an organization
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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
pick
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one word statements like a respect or an
10:05
excellence or
10:07
integrity or you know i reckon you could
10:10
line up
10:11
um the the fortune 500 and
10:14
you know you could guess the values that
10:16
are that are put
10:17
across an organization it’s a bit of a
10:19
hangover from
10:20
the 70s and 80s of this vision mission
10:24
values
10:24
thing that that was structured okay
10:28
so where does the problem occur so let’s
10:30
say
10:31
um we what value did you say excellence
10:35
or
10:35
respect okay great so let’s say we’ve
10:38
got respect
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
10:48
respect is good um but
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what happens if i define respect
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differently
10:55
to the way you define respect
10:59
so if i define respect
11:02
as respect for time then
11:06
if i turn up to the meeting late
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i don’t have respect but if i define
11:12
respect
11:13
for um getting the job done no matter
11:16
what
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then um i’m gonna
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and so i’ve defined this respect as
11:22
respect for the the
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
11:32
the job done is is
11:33
is what i’m respecting here then i’ve
11:36
got a conflict
11:37
um and you could say oh well respect the
11:40
person give them a call tell them you’re
11:41
not going to be there
11:43
but what we’re saying here is that i can
11:46
interpret respect
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in one way another person can interpret
11:51
another way
11:52
and we can justify two opposing sets of
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behaviors
11:57
so if i res if i respect
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
job done
12:11
nobody’s going to stand in my way or if
12:14
i have respect for my teammates my
12:16
colleagues and time
12:19
i’m going to turn up to that meeting on
12:20
time and participate now
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
12:30
interpret the value
12:33
and create a principle if principles
12:36
don’t exist
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
12:47
and so often what happens is values then
12:50
get played like cards
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
13:00
that suits us and and we’re not we’re
13:03
not acting to values
13:05
we’re using the values as playing cards
13:07
to justify actions uh
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
13:13
respect card
13:14
um and and so what that creates
13:18
inside organizations is a disbelief
13:23
of values and principles and a
13:25
subjective
13:28
fluid world of i’m not sure where i
13:30
stand
13:31
and and so people struggle to actually
13:34
find a belonging and a concrete place to
13:37
stand
13:38
because they don’t actually know if they
13:41
can take action
13:42
because if they take action they
13:44
actually might get crucified for it
13:47
so they don’t take action so what
13:49
happens
13:50
people just do what they have to do and
13:52
go home
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
14:02
um
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
14:11
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
14:25
integrity
14:26
and communication uh that sounds good
14:28
doesn’t it oh that makes us all feel
14:30
good
14:31
and and really i reckon within about two
14:33
months that’s all going to go to crap
14:35
and you’re going to be going why don’t
14:37
people live our values because they
14:39
don’t actually really know what you mean
14:41
and and that’s the problem so
14:44
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
14:51
of things
14:52
uh our principles are basically is what
14:55
adds meat to the value yeah it actually
14:58
gives us our
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
can
15:07
actually take two or three values
15:10
in order to articulate a principle
15:13
okay so if we said we value consistency
15:16
and truth
15:18
then a good principle out of that is we
15:20
always tell the truth
15:23
now how we tell it might be shaped by
15:25
another set of values
15:27
of compassion and empathy
15:30
sure um so craig um
15:35
be kind be kind right now be
15:37
compassionate
15:38
be passionate i was going to say let’s
15:40
let’s say
15:41
we’re on a video conference so i don’t
15:42
know but um craig you
15:44
let’s say we’re meeting and um uh i have
15:47
bad breath
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
15:53
go stu you stink
15:56
you’re telling the truth
15:57
[Laughter]
16:00
but you’re not demonstrating that
16:01
compassion and empathy
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
16:09
product
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
16:20
that’s
16:23
incompetent
16:27
but really um what we’re doing is going
16:30
actually there’s a there’s a failure to
16:31
understand
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
16:40
might just be
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
16:52
compassion
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
16:59
but
17:00
yeah and that’s okay and and and what
17:03
we’re not trying to create a set
17:05
of um policies here
17:08
that yeah you know oh gosh um i’ve got
17:11
to look up the rule book to know if i
17:12
can do something
17:13
yeah um if we bring some clarity
17:16
to the values of what we believe and we
17:19
set up
17:20
four five or six guiding principles
17:23
then typically that is more than enough
17:26
to guide behaviors
17:28
and then behaviors can be infinite
17:32
you know the last thing we want to do is
17:34
um
17:35
is is create uh
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
17:52
um values help set
17:55
the baseline of core beliefs and
17:58
principles
17:59
set the the the way we’re going to
18:03
execute
18:04
those beliefs and so if we go back
18:07
a few podcasts where we talked about
18:10
this
18:11
transformation diagnostic the
18:14
what we’ve built the diagnostic on the
18:17
um the iceberg
18:18
that i’ve referred to in the past at the
18:20
very base of the iceberg
18:22
is our as our worldview assumptions and
18:24
beliefs the mental models
18:26
that’s where the values sit sitting
18:28
above that at the organizational
18:30
structure and practices
18:31
that’s where principles start to come
18:33
alive
18:35
because we’re saying we believe in truth
18:36
we believe in honesty we believe in
18:38
compassion
18:40
okay what does that mean we outwork it
18:42
in this way
18:43
if we’re world vision we outwork those
18:46
things
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
18:56
outwork that
18:57
with a great guest experience and
19:00
treating people all people with respect
19:03
and dignity
19:04
whether you’re a billionaire that’s come
19:07
in
19:07
or whether you’re a homeless person
19:10
given a night
19:11
um and and and we’re going to treat you
19:13
with that same
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
19:34
right
19:35
is that a value or a principle
19:38
[Laughter]
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
19:46
always right
19:47
yeah yet yeah in an organization if
19:50
that’s the
19:51
if that’s that would be a principle
19:53
right
19:54
would that be a principle or yeah that’s
19:56
not about that okay yeah i see where
19:57
you’re going
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
20:04
going to frame
20:07
um
20:10
that the the staff member or the
20:14
employee
20:14
is going to bow to the whims of the
20:17
commands of the customer
20:19
yeah yeah um and and so you could set
20:22
that as a principle
20:24
so you might say um customer service
20:28
is um a value or service is our core
20:31
value
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
20:40
customer is always right
20:41
[Music]
20:44
and therefore when a customer complaint
20:46
comes in
20:47
if the customer says this product
20:49
doesn’t work
20:51
well you have to interpret that as this
20:53
product doesn’t work
20:54
so you would say yes you are correct the
20:56
product doesn’t work
20:58
whether it worked or didn’t work that’s
21:00
what you would be required to do based
21:02
on that principle
21:03
because going against that principle um
21:06
would be
21:07
um against your core values and
21:10
principles of the organization
21:11
now you we could assess the merits
21:14
of that principle yeah
21:18
we could say oh gosh is that is that a
21:21
good principle
21:22
does that actually achieve the right
21:24
outcomes every time
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
21:38
going to inform
21:40
i’m not going to help the customer
21:41
achieve the real
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
to the customer
21:48
and as we’ll talk about in future
21:52
episodes
21:55
not every customer is the best fit for
21:57
every organization
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
should cover
22:06
that’s all right i wanted to i wanted to
22:08
test the um you know
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
22:15
value that
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
22:23
about right so
22:24
ultimately a value god is a virtue that
22:27
guides our belief
22:29
a principle um is a rule or a guideline
22:32
that
22:32
that we use to help frame that value um
22:35
and then a behavior is
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
22:47
behaviors that’s good
22:48
um what did we say earlier truth is a
22:51
value
22:52
a principle is will always tell the
22:54
truth the behavior is
22:56
i always told the truth um so it
23:00
it it frames um
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
23:10
principles frame
23:12
the behaviors and the behaviours are
23:13
infinite there are
23:15
an infinite number of behaviors that
23:17
could fit
23:18
the principle of we’ll always tell the
23:20
truth
23:22
and um and so what we
23:25
what we really want to be doing in our
23:28
values principles
23:29
conversations is setting up people
23:33
to know exactly
23:36
what um a behavior is or
23:40
isn’t uh acceptable um
23:43
without having to check the rule book
23:46
and
23:47
um because we want to
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
24:03
yeah okay so let’s um
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
24:18
waymaker academy um
24:20
and those values um
24:24
i think we’ve got about gosh i don’t
24:25
know um
24:27
60 70 80 values sitting on a page right
24:30
things like hard work practicality
24:33
positive attitude
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
24:44
creativity okay
24:47
that’s a value um
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
25:09
that’s right yeah yeah
25:10
so we value creativity yeah how could we
25:14
turn that into a principle
25:16
if we were apple
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
25:32
[Laughter]
25:34
yeah i mean in fact one of the ways
25:37
apple
25:38
brought that value to life and that and
25:41
this is extending it
25:42
right into the creative execution yeah
25:45
was they
25:45
they for um a long time established the
25:48
principle
25:49
which which they used as a positioning
25:51
as well
25:52
of think different different yeah that
25:54
so
25:55
so internally they’ve said we’re going
25:58
to think different
25:59
the world is doing this over in pc world
26:02
um
26:03
ibm and microsoft so we’re going back to
26:06
the 80s
26:07
[Music]
26:08
that’s a long time ago um they’re doing
26:11
this
26:12
okay we need to think differently in
26:14
order to compete
26:16
um because we value creativity
26:20
so let’s think different and think
26:23
different actually
26:25
went from being an internal principle of
26:28
apple to being
26:29
external creative messaging
26:32
and what they had was a really nice
26:34
brand alignment
26:35
we believe in thinking different we do
26:38
behaviors
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
26:49
time to highlight it
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
27:04
different things um
27:06
if if you’re used to hearing the term
27:08
brand
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
27:17
principles
27:18
sometimes they translate in
27:21
to others or or get expressed in a
27:24
different way
27:25
so there’s connectivity and that’s a
27:26
good thing but we’re not talking about
27:28
that we’re talking about
27:29
underlying values and principles that
27:31
frame behavior
27:32
sometimes those behaviors um
27:35
uh end up framing external messaging
27:38
which is
27:38
not a bad thing in fact it’s what you
27:40
want so yeah i mean
27:42
in in in the case of apple we’ve got
27:44
like think different
27:45
would permeate every from engineering to
27:48
industrial design to
27:49
marketing to yeah i don’t know
27:51
accounting
27:55
so here’s a good example isn’t it
28:00
you actually would want it to permeate
28:02
um but
28:03
uh this is where you would balance with
28:06
other principles
28:07
of um honesty and integrity and fairness
28:10
well their values but setting up the
28:11
right principles
28:13
um going we’re not gonna we’re not gonna
28:14
be creative accountants
28:17
we’re going to be creative accountants
28:19
within the law
28:20
and and that might mean
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
28:33
versus
28:34
sydney which has a 28 30 tax rate
28:38
um so i think um
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
28:52
like excellence
28:53
for example okay yeah great so that’s a
28:56
good value excellence i would like to
28:58
stay
28:59
at a hotel or a resort that values
29:03
excellence um that would fill me with
29:05
confidence
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
29:23
principles um uh
29:26
so we could articulate a principle of um
29:30
excellence in customer service
29:32
cleanliness
29:33
and guest experience and then we could
29:36
start to put some behaviors and clarity
29:38
around that
29:40
that doesn’t mean it’s excellence in
29:42
fine dining
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
29:52
to
29:53
shape and guide culture which shapes and
29:56
guides the product or services we’re
29:58
ultimately
29:58
delivering okay
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
30:10
certain behaviors
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
a principle
30:23
yeah so i mean what do we want as
30:25
leaders we want to teach
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
things
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
30:50
want
30:51
micro pockets of cultures where
30:54
let’s say we’re a bigger organization
30:56
where
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
31:09
that
31:10
well now we actually have opposing world
31:14
views inside one organization
31:16
which means working together and
31:18
executing together is
31:19
going to be a problem at some point and
31:22
and so
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
31:30
to frame our behaviors
31:32
and that then sets up the conversation
31:34
for the best practices
31:37
for achieving the best out of those
31:40
behaviors
31:42
because a best
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
31:55
customer service
31:56
i can’t remember what i said service and
31:58
guest experience okay great a best
32:01
practice
32:02
might be on entry
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
32:16
bottle of champagne
32:18
on ice in your room at the ibis
32:22
um north adelaide um
32:28
that might mean
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
32:40
machine i don’t know
32:43
but that’s best practice for that
32:45
experience and and
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
32:56
our culture
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
33:06
these things
33:08
yeah good question why are we talking
33:10
about this yeah yeah
33:11
we’re talking about this because
33:13
waymaker helps you
33:16
get clearer clarity yeah build alignment
33:19
so we are all on the same bus going to
33:21
the same destination
33:22
and deliver the results along the way
33:24
that’s clarity goals executioner goals
33:26
um and and so two ways one
33:30
if you’re working with a coach or
33:32
consultant that’s way maker certified
33:34
they will help you they will take you
33:37
through
33:38
the conversation of values principles
33:41
behaviours
33:43
all that secondly you might want to jump
33:46
in
33:47
and explore some of the materials in
33:49
waymaker academy in employee experience
33:51
yourself around these and and have that
33:54
conversation
33:55
that’s totally fine too so then once
33:58
you’ve
33:58
clarified um inside waymaker
34:02
in in the company profile section
34:06
we have a place where you can you can
34:09
record all this stuff
34:10
so you can record your principles you
34:13
can talk about what that means
34:16
in the employee experience and you can
34:18
articulate it so that when and that’s in
34:20
that dynamic
34:21
strategic plan that lives in in the
34:23
company profile
34:24
so that when you’re you’re onboarding
34:26
team members when you’re working as a
34:28
team
34:28
everybody knows it’s there it’s in black
34:30
and white it’s simple
34:32
um and and it becomes the conversation
34:35
starter
34:36
so um so one use our
34:40
toolkits to work through values
34:43
principles and behaviors
34:44
to document it bring clarity to it
34:48
inside waymaker so that as you’re as
34:51
you’re going through your quarterly and
34:52
annual planning sessions
34:54
it’s there you can refer to it and
34:56
people know what they are
34:59
obviously don’t stop there stick it on
35:01
walls
35:02
create videos um i don’t know make mouse
35:06
pads
35:07
um do what you do i don’t know um put it
35:09
on t-shirts
35:11
but actually that’s that’s silly the
35:13
most important thing to do is to do it
35:15
example it
35:16
um we do have this waymaker mantra
35:22
where we talk about
35:25
show the way
35:28
come on mate
35:31
we’re so close build the system train
35:34
the leader
35:34
hold them accountable help them win so
35:37
um
35:38
uh it’s um and and so the most important
35:41
thing is doing it
35:42
is the behavior piece you example your
35:46
principles and values
35:47
when you do what you do that’s the
35:50
culture piece
35:51
um people can then refer back to okay
35:54
we offer people this welcome experience
35:57
because we believe in this
35:59
um okay have we have we
36:02
have we found clarity in this 20-minute
36:04
conversation i think values
36:05
principles behaviors i think we we
36:07
defined our terms pretty clearly there
36:09
yeah yeah if you’re unclear hey um
36:12
message us
36:13
um through the app uh um
36:16
uh talk to us on socials i don’t mind um
36:19
uh and we’ll we’ll happily just just do
36:21
it true truth with compassion
36:23
would be great
36:26
yeah yeah yeah yeah
36:29
okay all right so um yeah that’d be
36:31
great awesome well if you’re an
36:33
organization you’re listening to this
36:34
jump on waymaker.io um if you’re already
36:37
signed up then you can start playing
36:39
around with that clarity toolkit if
36:40
you’re not then there’s a 14-day trial
36:42
we’d love you to sign up for 30-day
36:44
trial 30-day trial we’ve increased yeah
36:47
brilliant
36:48
okay well um just for you now listeners
36:52
um and uh if you’re a coach or
36:55
consultant then you know
36:56
our encouragement is to jump on get get
36:58
certified um
37:00
you can use these tools to uh help you
37:01
grow your own business
37:03
um and next episode we’ll talk more
37:05
about how to achieve more
37:07
by doing this
37:24
you
Why do we have values or principles?
To conceptualise what values, principles and behaviours mean to an organization, we must first define them.
A value is a virtue which frames beliefs. Some examples of values may be truth, honesty, or excellence. It is something that can be believed in.
A principle is a guiding rule or guideline that is built off one or many values.
A behaviour is something we do because of the principle.
Values and principles create the alignment in worldview for the organization. They reflect the purpose, vision and emphasis on what matters most for how the team come together to do their work.
Not setting clear values and principles may be unrecoverable.
Having principles help guide us and bring clarity to our values we’ve set so that we can establish the right behaviours across an organization.
Often, you see organizations provide one-word statements as their values like respect, excellence, or integrity, but many people define and interpret those values differently.
Some people may define respect as turning up to a meeting late means that person doesn’t have respect. Instead, if you specifically define respect as getting the job done no matter what the circumstance is, then people are going to do that.
If you interpret the value, then you create the principle
If there’s been no discussion around defining the principles, then values get played like cards.
Your team start adopting the values when it suits them at any point in time. This means that they are not acting to the values, they are using values to play cards to justify actions.
This creates a notion of disbelief of values and principles inside an organization and a subjective fluid world of employees not knowing where they stand. People struggle to find a concrete place to stand, simply because they don’t know how they can act.
If they take action, they might get crucified for it so then they don’t take action.
What happens then?
People just do what they must do, then go home.
The idea of bringing clarity and concreteness to what we mean when we talk about values is about articulating principles, rules, and guidelines of these values so we can frame the right behaviours in employees.
It’s not enough to know your values and stick them up on the wall
It’s the principles that add meat to values. It gives us the guidelines. The framework in which to operate.
You can take two or three values to articulate a principle.
What are some examples of this?
Example 1: We value consistency and truth.
A good principle of that is we always tell the truth.
Example 2: We value compassion and empathy in a customer situation.
Scenario: a customer comes in and they’re wrong because they don’t know how to use the product and so they’re returning it for failure. We could…
- Turn around and act dumb which isn’t telling the truth that’s just incompetent
- Tell them their wrong
But we are then failing to understand so we need to have empathy in the situation.
If we can bring some clarity to the values of what we believe and we set up four, five or six guiding principles then that’s typically more than enough to guide behaviours and then behaviours can be infinite.
We need to equip and empower our team
A value is a virtue or that guides our beliefs. A principle is a rule or guideline that is built on that value – the classic adage in business is that the customer is always right.
Waymaker is built on the assumptions and beliefs of our worldview assumptions that form the iceberg of our mental models – that’s the point where the value sits above the organizational structure and practices.
That’s where principles start to come alive.
Set your team up with the right behaviours to better their employee experience
There is an infinite number of behaviours that could fit a value.
We want you to create values and principles that sets your team up to know exactly what behaviour is or isn’t acceptable without having the check the rule book.
How does Waymaker help us achieve clarity around these things?
Waymaker helps you get better clarity to build alignment. We want you to be on the same bus going to the same destination and deliver the same results along the way.
If you’re working with a coach or consultant, they will take you through the conversation of values, principles, and behaviours.
You can jump in Waymaker Academy to explore it yourself and have that conversation.
When you’re onboarding and working with a team, everyone knows what the values, principles and values are – which become a conversation starter. The steps to this are…
1. Use the Waymaker toolkits to work through values
2. Document it, bring clarity to it inside Waymaker
During your annual or quarterly planning sessions, you can work through these elements and plan for them to be implemented throughout the organization.
Waymaker mantra – show the way, build the system, train the leader, hold them accountable, help them win and do it
The behaviour piece is the most important thing.
The culture piece is the value and principles that people can refer to.
