How to design company values that motivate staff
Today a set of company values has become like the human appendix – we all have one but we’re not exactly sure what it is for. While many companies have a set of values, their employees often do not know what they are, or what to do with them.
Kobus Neethling, president of South African Creativity Foundation, says that for most companies, values have become empty words on a company profile, collecting dust in a bottom drawer. “The problems in world markets today are largely due to companies whose values have become meaningless. It is not uncommon for a company to list integrity as a value, while using unethical means to increase profits,” says Neethling. Companies need to anchor themselves in a totally new way, with values that are meaningful and lived every day. “We have to redesign our values and breathe new life into them – only then do they have an impact.” In order to have your values work for you, design them so that they speak to all your employees. A good way to reach all your employees is to communicate with all the different kinds of thinking types. Neethling identified eight different types of thinking, or dimensions, based on what he calls his eight dimension whole brain instrument. The instrument is able to measure and describe thinking preferences in people. By answering a list of questions, Neethling can determine what type of thinker you are. There are only eight thinking types: strategist, imagineer, empathiser, socialiser, organiser, preserver, analyst, and realist. Most people are dominant in one of these thinking styles, with one or two minor styles.