When I asked the leader of one of the institutions we started working with to empower its values to provide me with the strategic objectives of the institution, he handed them to me and then said: “Our strategic objectives and values were built by a prestigious global consulting company from the ‘Big Four’, and there’s no need for you to review them.” I replied that the goal is not to review them, but to match them with your institution’s values, and you decide to develop them later. We applied the Goals and Values Matrix tool to identify intersections and the level of relationship in percentage between the institution’s goals and its values. As in the following hypothetical matrix:
“Forming a value system is the cornerstone”
As you can see, we didn’t find a strong relationship between the institution’s values and its strategic objectives except in limited intersections. I went back to him and presented the matrix, and he repeated that their strategic objectives were built correctly and it’s not logical to modify them. I replied that this might be true, but what can be modified is the value system to harmonize with your strategic objectives. This means that their institution’s value system was not formed in a way that supports the strategic objectives of the institution, which is one of the most important foundations on which the system formation process is built. The harmony of the value system with the strategic objectives of the institution that achieves its vision is one of the most important characteristics of a good system, in addition to other characteristics including:
- Its compatibility with the type of institution’s activity.
- Its suitability for the nature of the majority of the team.
- Its consistency with the local context and general context.
“A good value system harmonizes with the institution’s objectives”
The process of forming the system is not just choosing values, but includes other sub-processes including:
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- Exploring the views of leadership.
- Examining and reviewing the strategic plan and objectives.
- Involving all stakeholders in its formation.
- Analyzing the general context of the institution.
- Issuing the value system.
“The process of forming a value system requires multiple processes, effort, and extreme care”
- Defining values operationally in a way that aligns with the institution’s activity.
- Building system documents including:
- Value document.
- Code of conduct.
- Partnership charter.