The importance of values at work (part 2)

How to create happier working environments

Having experienced both happy and unhappy working environments first hand, I became hugely interested in why I was so unhappy in some places and not in others. This led me to conduct research into the concept of fit and what it means to fit in at work. To me, this is the crux of happiness at work. Over the next few editions of this newsletter, I’ll share my thoughts, based on research, into the concept of fit in relation to happiness at work.

The core elements of happiness at work

There are three core elements to happiness at work, based on my research. Those elements are: values alignment; needs satisfaction; and strengths focus. Today I continue my exploration of values alignment, see the previous edition (below) for the first part.

You can listen to my podcast covering this important topic here.

Are the values ‘lived’?

As mentioned previously, it can be that values are aspirational rather than actual. I have worked in organisations where we knew clearly what the values were, but it was very obvious that they were not the lived experience of employees. This eroded trust in the organisation; if they are not being honest about this, what else are they not being honest about?

I’ve had several discussions with companies recently that uncovered a worrying truth - culture is often used as a marketing tactic, with companies making promises about the values and the expectations of employees, only for the person to discover after joining that the culture wasn’t what they promised. 

If you make these types of false promises, it’s more likely that someone will leave your organisation sooner rather than later, which can cost the organisation in the tens of thousands.

Bridging the gap between aspirational values and the lived employee experience

I’m currently working on a solution to assess the extent of this issue in organisations and to help leaders to bridge the gap between the values they say they have and the values they actually have. If you’d like to know more, you can message me here.

What gets tolerated?

In order to be truly reflective of the aspirational values, leaders need to stamp out the behaviour that goes against the values and promote more of the behaviour that aligns with the values of the organisation. If the kind of behaviour you don’t want to have in an organisation goes unchecked by leaders, it becomes behaviour that is tolerated, and accepted by the team as a way to behave, and can become a toxic influence on the culture of the organisation. 

Behaviour of leaders is especially under the microscope as it has much further reaching consequences than the behaviour of individual contributors. Managers need to take the time to address this type of behaviour when it first happens, rather than leaving things until they get out of hand. I’ll be covering having these difficult conversations in an upcoming episode of the Happier at Work podcast, sign up to receive it directly to your inbox.

Attracting the ‘right’ talent

Leaders often talk about hiring the ‘best’ talent. The best talent out there has the most to offer employers, and also has different kinds of demands on the workforce (I’ll cover this more in the next newsletter about needs satisfaction). Even in times of high unemployment, these are the kind of people who will leave an organisation if it is not right for them. 

The ‘right’ talent, from my research, is the talent that ‘fits in’ to your organisation based on their values. They have the right attitude to suit your organisation. They are the best talent for you and your team, as a clash of values is likely to lead to a negative type of conflict within the organisation. The values get diluted, it can create a toxic environment and unclear goals, slowing down the performance of the team.

When hiring new people to the organisation, focus on the cultural fit by assessing the values of the candidate against your own defined values. Usually companies focus first on skills and experience of candidates in job ads. By focusing on values and strengths (more on this in an upcoming newsletter), you will keep employees for longer. 

Hire for attitude, train for skill.

Retention

Hiring for values leads to higher rates of retention. It is also important, especially in the current climate, to reiterate the values of the organisation as a key differentiator from competitors - if an employee is offered a 20% pay rise to move somewhere else where they may not have the same culture, would they stay in your organisation?

A note on diverse thinking

Oftentimes when we talk about ‘fitting in’ people confuse it for moulding yourself to fit with the organisation, or hiring people ‘just like me’. The important thing in addition to hiring for values is to check for diverse thinking. Hiring people who have similar backgrounds can lead to less innovative organisations, and done consistently over time, this can lead to poor performance of the organisation. I’m working on a solution to this, please reach out to find out more here.

In summary

• Organisational values need to be clearly defined
• As leaders, we need to ensure that the organisational values are the lived experience
• Manage values by having tough conversations, ensuring our values remain the lived experience of employees
• Hire people whose values align with those of the organisation - this creates a happier working environment where employees can thrive, and will stay with the organisation for longer!
• Reiterate the values through recognition of those espousing the values and the importance of values as a cultural differentiator
• Check for diverse thinking in our hiring process, and don’t just hire people with similar backgrounds

Which of these are you currently doing? Let me know in the comments!

What to look forward to

In the next edition of this newsletter, I will move on to the next element in happiness at work - needs satisfaction. Available in 2 weeks!

The Happier at Work Programme

On the Happier at Work programme, we focus on 3 pillars: values alignment; needs satisfaction; strengths focus. We also address the importance of psychological safety at work, and combatting issues that make people unhappy at work. Another important aspect of the programme is looking at the future of work, improving productivity, the role of personality, the role of leadership, and everyday happiness hacks to implement straight away.

You can take this quiz to find out how happy your workplace is currently, and learn more about creating and maintaining happier working environments.

Happier at Work partners with business leaders to support them to create and maintain happier working environments by focusing on the pillars of: engagement and belonging; the future of work; performance and productivity; and leadership equity. We offer speaking, training and workshops; happiness audits; research; and corporate programmes.

Aoife O’Brien is the founder of Happier at Work, a business with the mission to support organisations in retaining top talent. She is passionate about ‘fit’ and specifically how creating the right environment can help individuals to reach their full potential and support organisations to thrive. She is a self-professed data nerd, with a 20+ year career in market research in the fast-moving consumer goods industry working with clients like Coca Cola, Unilever and Heinz to solve marketing problems using data analytics. Aoife has been featured by several media platforms and public speaking events talking about imposter syndrome, fit, employee engagement, and productivity. She has lived and worked in Dublin, London, Perth, and Sydney and has a MSc in Work and Organisational Behaviour, a Diploma in Executive and Life Coaching and a Certificate in Career Coaching. 

The Happier at Work podcast, features a combination of interview-based episodes as well as solo podcasting, and has over 50k listens in more than 50 countries. It was recently nominated for 2 awards. You can sign up to the Happier at Work LinkedIn Newsletter to receive the podcast straight in your LinkedIn notifications when it goes live every Friday!