It has been said that values are the standards by which we set our priorities. This means we can understand the values of a person or an organisation by examining their priorities.
Listening to a presentation given by top executives of a large firm recently, we heard them list the company’s priorities:
1. Top line growth
2. Enhance shareholder value
3. Focus on global expansion
4. Enhance customer satisfaction
5. Our people.
From this listing, it seems they don’t really value their people. Or at least they don’t put their people before growth. Ironically, the best organisations we have seen, the ones that are actually more profitable for the long-term, all put people before growth on their list of priorities.
As Lou Gerstner, the man who reinvented IBM, said: "Culture is not an aspect of the game. Culture is the game."
So what of other priorities?
If a company says shareholder value is their main priority how do they value customers? If an executive has their Blackberry at his child’s football match because work it still a priority, then how much does he value the fleeting time he has to watch his children grow up? If the urgent always takes priority over the important, then how much do we value the important over the urgent? If indeed we value things that we are not prioritising or prioritising things we do not value as much, then perhaps it is time to realign our priorities. If we value those kinds of things...
