Encyclopedia of Leadership

2.5

VALUES AND LEADERSHIP

Inspired by Ken Blanchard, Michael O’Connor, James Kouzes, Barry Posner,

Patricia Jones, Larry Kahaner, and James O’Toole.

“Values comprise the things that are most important to us. They are the deep-seated, pervasive

standards that influence almost every aspect of our lives: our moral judgements, our respons-

es to others, our commitments to personal and organizational goals,” say Kouzes and Posner

in their best-seller, The Leadership Challenge.“However silently, values give direction to the

hundreds of decisions made at all levels of the organization every day.” The values of an orga-

nization’s leaders, particularly senior leaders, form the bedrock of that organization’s culture.

This tool provides guidance for clarifying and living your values.

The benefits of clarifying organizational values include:

✔ They encourage and set standards for ethical behavior throughout the organization.

✔ They provide a constant guideline or touchstone for decision making, often reducing

conflict and stress.

✔ They encourage personal effectiveness by creating overarching guidelines about work-

ing with employees, customers or clients, and other stakeholders.

✔ They help attract and retain people who are prepared to support and work within the

stated values.

The disadvantages of clarifying organizational values include:

✘ Leaders are obligated to model the stated values; leaders must scrupulously behave

within declared values.

✘ They can engender cynicism, unless everyone in the organization is held accountable

for upholding declared values.

STEPS FOR DEFINING AND LEADING WITH EXPLICIT VALUES

SECTION 2 TOOLS FORBIG-PICTURETHINKING 55

Step 

Initiation by

senior

management

Step 

Defining and

clarifying

values

➟

➟

➟

❑ Values work absolutely must be actively supported and lived from the top.

❑ There must be a clear rationale, tied to organizational success, for clarifying values.

❑ Every leader must be prepared to model the stated values.

❑ The process of introduction must be congruent with the values; if you hold that “employ-

ees are our most valued resource,” then employees must be consulted!

❑ Involve stakeholders (e.g., leaders, employees, customers, clients, suppliers). Use focus

groups, team meetings, and surveys.

❑ The first draft of values should reflect the givens of senior management.

❑ Gather information as to what stakeholders currently see as implied values.

❑ Gather feedback on givens and proposals for additional values.

❑ Analyze the gaps between implied values and desired values.

❑ Finalize value statements and publish them, along with operational and measurable

indicators of success.