I’ve worked with many organisations which spend time agreeing and rolling out a set of company values, but as one CEO said to me it’s easy to have integrity as a company value, but how do you actually bring that to life and live it as a company?
One of the interesting aspects of the current Pandemic has been to see how different organisations have reacted to the emergency. There has definitely been a mixed approach with some companies and their Leaders acting to safeguard their staff and customers, with others drawing criticism for their first action being to safeguard their bottom line.
The Sunday Times had a feature at the weekend on the “heroes and villians” of the Pandemic, with one of the villians being Wetherspoons, who proudly note on their website that they have “been recognised by the Top Employers Institute as a ‘Top Employer United Kingdom’ for 16 consecutive years, including 2019”
It’s therefore surprising/disappointing that their initial reaction being allegedly to inform staff that they may not be paid in April until Government plans were in place, before rowing back on this in the face of widespread criticism.
The Leadership team at the Marshall Motor Group took a different approach. Their number one value is that their view that “people are at the heart of their success.”
They believe that “we readily recognise the power of our people to drive the Marshall Motor Group forward. Everybody in the Group contributes, in various ways, to the products and services we supply. We value each individual’s contribution, encouraging everyone to reach their full potential.”
Their reaction to the crisis?
It is easy to say we value integrity, we value our people, we value teamwork the challenge is how do you demonstrate it, how do our leaders live it?
Of the two companies discussed I know which one I would rather work for.
How do you live the values that are important to you?
