Is it OK to grump about the latest corporate values push?

Question

My workplace seems to regularly launch new staff values and organisation goals. I find it hard not to adopt an attitude of “we have seen and done this all before”. What are your tips for avoiding these negative and grumpy feelings?

Answer

My first thought after reading your question was that your negative and grumpy feelings are completely understandable and justified. I wonder whether it’s not you and other frustrated workers that have to change, but your organisation and other companies doing the same thing.

I asked Dr Wouter Vleugels, a senior lecturer at the Deakin Business School, to offer his advice. He told me that, for a lot of organisations, the gap between how they see themselves and what they really are can be vast. That creates problems with the process you’ve described.

“Many organisations essentially struggle to understand their own core values and culture, and what it is that truly sets them apart from their competitors. What we often see is some sort of a disconnect between a company’s aspired or espoused values and their actual values.

“Many organisations like to think they score high on diversity, integrity, being human-centred. However, discrepancies often emerge between what managers believe their organisational culture is like, and how this culture is truly experienced on the work floor through company processes, procedures, daily interactions with organisational representatives, etcetera.”

Vleugels says that one simple way for everyone to avoid this feeling of futility is for organisations to practise what they preach.

“Ideally, organisations present themselves in an accurate way. Recruitment and selection research indicates that if employees are not being given a realistic preview of what the work environment is like – including the organisation’s values and goals – they risk becoming disappointed and disillusioned a few months into the job. It’s something we call the honeymoon hangover effect.