Personal and Organizational Performance

Corporate Values

Which employees does corporate America most value? According to 150 senior business leaders in the U.S. polled for the LRN Value of Corporate Values Study, it's those who are inspired by a company's mission and values. Yet these same leaders say their companies value employees who are mostly focused on taking orders and earning more money.

Here are some of the study's key findings:
• There's a disconnect between what senior leaders say they value in employees and what their companies actually value in the real-world work environment. In fact, the majority of U.S. leaders (87 percent) say they personally value employees inspired by a company’s mission and values, but report their companies most favor employees who do what they are told (35 percent) or are motivated by material rewards (32 percent).

• Fifty-two percent of leaders say the recent economic downturn has their companies emphasizing the organizational mission and values to encourage greater performance from employees more than in the period before the decline. But 47 percent of leaders say their companies are stressing values and mission less (5 percent), the same (15 percent), or not at all (27 percent).

• Nearly half (49 percent) of the leaders surveyed say their companies weigh how aligned employees are with the organizational mission and values in making decisions to downsize teams and resources. Twenty percent of their companies do not consider the mission and values when scaling back the workforce, according to these leaders.

• A majority of the leaders (56 percent) say their companies place a premium on workers who are allied with the underlying organizational mission versus an equally skilled employee who may not be as aligned; 17 percent do not value such workers.

• "There's an interesting dichotomy in business today. Leaders see the benefits of becoming more values-based but aren't certain of how to affect behavior change operationally," says Dov Seidman, chairman and CEO of LRN. "Our work has shown that employees aligned on a deeper mission than just making money are inspired by a long-term view and behave in a way that brings advantage to the business. We are witnessing a trend in business where values-based behaviors and cultures are being shaped as a source of competitive advantage."

We here at New West Institute LLC work with companies who know the value of being a values-based organization. But more than that we know how to achieve the behavior change that accelerates new performance levels quickly. It's what we do!