Mining for Diamonds — Our Values
Defining values is like mining for diamonds, it’s tough, really tough, yet ultimately very rewarding. Every iota of effort is returned ten times over once the team agree on a value from which to build the company.
As with mining for diamonds it’s best if you approach the exercise with tools fit to the task. Following on from the last week where we agreed on the first company value — In-depth Insights — we went about applying the process.
- Select the next theme from the in-depth insights which calls most attention to everyone. We found it best to state the theme in the form of a question. As in “How do we…” or “What is our approach to…”
- Write down what you think about the theme / question.
- Underline the points you agree with from each of your team member’s notes
- Collate the underlined points from each so you end up with one list for each team-member. For example, take the points Jorge and Dermot underlined from Dore’s notes and put them on a page. Repeat for each
- Cross-out any duplication so you are left with one list of ideas
- Now the tough part — from the final list, articulate/construct/write a 5 line paragraph which conveys the key ideas from the list
- Rethink/restate/reconceptualise the above in 3 lines
- And again, this time to 2 lines
- You’re getting the hang of it now — 1 line
- Finally 2–4 words resulting in a value with a name and surname.
How did it go?
Availability constraints meant we were only able to meet on Saturday and Ivan was not available. We worked through two further values and were happy with the results. As a team we worked well together. Leadership rotated dynamically with one person leading, then the next, then the next as we moved from step to step without the need to follow a set turn. Independent of agreeing on company values the exercise is a great team-building opportunity. We could be lucky that we work well together or it could also be the importance of the task bringing everyone together, either way we found out very quickly how we interact and how best to bounce of each other.
We met again to review progress with Ivan, he’s beginning to take on the role of a teacher, I feel a little as if I am back at school and I dare not be late with my homework. He thinks I hate him, I don’t. If you want to get real value out of people you have to ask them tough questions, without challenge all you will get is a copy and paste of something someone has read in HBR, this is important, too important to settle for someone else’s ideas, our company values have to come from the team, Iván is making sure we deliver on this.
The feedback was that we had cut some corners, that the evolution from the original title to the end result was not clear on one of the values.
So back to the cutting desk to polish our would-be diamond. We started again with the above process and were much happier not just with the outcome but the process. A number of concepts were introduced which add context to the value and will make it a lot easier for someone joining the company to understand our culture and the philosophy which drives it. Getting your head around the significance of 2–4 words can be tough without being able to follow the thought process which led to these words being chosen over others. Revisiting this value was worth the effort. We went from “Validated products from user needs” to “Need-driven improvement”.
What do you think?
I recommend having someone facilitate the process as this considerably changed our approach, we worked faster, forcing each other to question each step much more intensely than when we worked alone. It might cost more, however as I have repeated many times now, this is important, you wouldn’t scrimp on legal advice, why scrimp on your company values?
On to the next challenge, three more values. The team are again dispersed over the coming week so we are trying to figure out how to continue with momentum while getting as close to the in-person experience as possible. Let’s see how we go.
Here are some of our diamonds. Shiny!
Note: Our second session was to take place in person, however two of the team could not make it so we worked via Skype. During the previous sessions we took notes on paper and electronically. Since paper was not an option this time we opted for a Google doc. The process of writing, reading each other’s ideas, editing and documenting was so much smoother and faster. Do not underestimate digital tools even when working face-to-face.
