What Message Are We Consistently Sharing?

For us to come to terms with why some many organizations miss the mark on providing a clear and consistent picture of the values listed in their policy manual or on their website, I think we need to take a look at what we do emphasize clearly and consistently with our teams. In the nearly two decades I spent working for a global leader in the automotive parts manufacturing sector, the topics I heard about most frequently were safety, quality, stock price, and productivity - but in the exact opposite order. As I mentioned before, our mission statement contained numerous buzzwords, many of which can be found in quite a few other company’s mission statements, but I can’t say with certainty whether any of those were our actual corporate values.

However, I can recall with remarkable clarity how often productivity was discussed: DAILY at nearly every level within our local facility, which tells me it was just as hot a topic at every other level on up the food chain. When I operated a press, I knew exactly how many parts I was expected to churn out each day. And everyone in each manufacturing area had direct visibility of productivity for the previous day, week, month, and quarter - assuming they paid any attention whatsoever.

I also remember how frequently we heard about the company’s stock price, as well as the hoops we’d be jumping through for the final ten weeks of each quarter to ensure the earnings statement met Wall Street’s expectation. Safety and quality were frequent conversation points, too, they were just more casual until we received a significant complaint from a customer or there was a serious injury.

While each of those things are imperative to an organization being successful, I still can’t tell you how they tied back to whatever had been defined as our core values. Having shared my poor recollection of those values a few times now, I can see where I could be giving you the impression that I wasn’t all that engaged. Truth be told, I believe I was as dialed in on that company achieving great results as anyone in our local facility; I knew every employee on a first name basis and I had friends and family who had worked there since it opened in the early 60s, not to mention it being how I kept our lights on!

With regards to productivity, safety, and quality, we all had a clear understanding of what we were expected to do daily. In many cases, specifically through our behavior-based safety initiative, folks knew exactly what the behaviors necessary for avoiding risks looked like because they received feedback and guidance on their individual role. For each of those metrics, there was little room left for individual discretion as to what was and what was not acceptable. I think you know the answer as to how it related to that company’s values, so I’ll ask if you have that same level of understanding about your organization’s values… Since I’m fairly sure I know the answer, we’ll pick up there next!