A strong values-based culture can provide a unique competitive advantage, but as Tony Touma writes, it must be supported by the board, management and staff at all levels
A strong values-based culture can provide a unique competitive advantage, but as Tony Touma writes, it must be supported by the board, management and staff at all levels
Embarking on the values journey is a challenging and exciting initiative for many organisations as they seek to articulate the important principles that define their reasons for existence. A clearly defined set of values, supported by behaviours and service standards can have many benefits which support the business objectives and outcomes.
As many organisations compete to get their brands recognised in the market, values ensure that experiences by customers match the branding promise and the value propositions that differentiate that organisation from its competitors. A strong values-based culture can provide an advantage which is unique and one which cannot easily be copied by competitors.
Unlike seasonal marketing campaigns, values are timeless statements about the organisation. Once defined and agreed to, they should be incorporated into all aspects of the business – not just people management strategies but also into operations management, systems and processes. Reinforcement through reward and recognition, incentive programs, performance reviews and communications, to name a few, ensures that the defined set of behaviours then become ‘the way things are done’ in the organisation.
Embedding values
So how do we make sure values become more than a plaque on the wall? For the process to be successful it is important that the board, management and staff commit to it and participate in the process, so they have some ownership of the values and the resulting behaviours. Management and staff must both display and demand behaviour that is consistent with values in order for them to be internalised, with consequences for those whose behaviour is inconsistent. Staff empowerment is also important to create an environment and a process that enables people to safely identify and eliminate the inconsistencies.
A strong values-based culture allows communication of clear objectives and expectations, and fosters an environment where employees can work, learn, develop and know that their own values are aligned with that of the organisation. This alignment is powerful, as it ensures that employees not only believe in the contribution they make, but also become advocates for their organisation.
From the customer’s perspective, critical impressions of the institution’s quality, capabilities and trustworthiness are established through interaction and experience. In large part, the organisation’s brand promise is personified by these experiences. A colleague once commented to me that while travelling overseas she would experience the same service and product standards at a McDonald’s restaurant regardless of the country or local culture.
At around this time, our organisation was in the midst of a merger between two large credit unions which overnight came together to become one national organisation. The challenge was to deliver the same experience to our members from Sydney to Perth and Brisbane to Melbourne.
From a financial, business systems and member access point of view, the merger looked like a perfect partnership, however the cultural differences were significant and we quickly identified the need to embark on a major cultural development program to help bring these two organisations together, with a strong set of shared values at the core of our business.
With trust as the foundation principle, and supported by strategies and programs aligned with the values and agreed behaviours, Australian National Credit Union (ANCU) promotes itself today as ‘Australia’s Friendliest Banking’, and our members hold us accountable for this. To make it meaningful and go the extra mile the credit union has in place a number of initiatives including direct access by our members to the CEO for feedback as well as complaints. This ensures that at the highest levels, the organisation does not become complacent about maintaining and improving member satisfaction.
Values and the bottom line impact
So can values really make a difference? At ANCU this has enabled us to achieve high member satisfaction at 83 per cent and high staff satisfaction at 92 per cent, to name a couple of important measures. Our strong values-based culture has also seen us recognised for a number of awards over the years including diversity in the workplace, employer of choice for women and more recently for best practices in corporate citizenship.
As a financial institution, and in an industry looking to improve its image in the community, ANCU was able to differentiate itself from its competitors and others with an organisational culture based on a strong set of values, backed by a track record of results by living the values.
So after more than two years into the journey what have we learnt? Values are what differentiates us and helps the organisation achieve business objectives. Values influence how we prioritise the decisions made and how our employees and members are treated. Importantly, values also influence how the wider community views us, and by ensuring values are integrated into all areas of our business, they provide strong foundations to drive values-based results.
Tony Touma is head of human resources for Australian National Credit Union. Email: [email protected]
