Managing With Values

by Debra Atlas

Here's something that just may spark your imagination, or at least give you something important to consider. It's a book about an exceptional management style. The book's called "Managing By Values", by Ken Blanchard and Michael O'Connor.

Operating by values that "live" in the daily actions, strategies and beliefs of employees is a radical concept. It goes against long-held, cultural beliefs about business. Yet some well-known companies are operating this way. They're proving this "new thinking" has tremendous benefits!

Consider these questions:
Do you think turnover in staffing is normal?
Do you believe there's no such thing as employee loyalty anymore?

Companies that manage by values say "No." Their different management approach gives evidence that the above statements "ain't necessarily so!"

Here's one of the book's statements that inspired me: "Success in business is all about service. Service is where we gain our edge, and service means people -- it's about our relationships."

My search to discover companies using this operating method and how it works led me to Ed Christofferson. He's Vice President and Redding Area Office Manager of CH2M HILL. They're an internationally known engineering and environmental sciences company with a reputation for delivering quality and innovative results.

Ed said his company's founders had strong ideas on how employees should be treated, and the company's stayed true to these values ever since. These values as the basis for making changes and growing to meet their customers' needs.

Here are some fundamental principles that CH2M HILL employs. How do they compare with the management principles of your company?

#1 Satisfy the client
#2 Provide excellent solutions
#3 Embrace innovation where it reduces risk
#4 Work as a team
#5 Work with honesty and integrity

At CH2M HILL, decisions are made by consensus, innovation is encouraged, and there's a team-oriented work environment throughout their offices, worldwide.

The many benefits of Values Management include:
Happier employees, resulting in significantly less turnover
Sales go up, as do profits
Projects get done on time, or early

This style of management ends up being more cost effective! So with such great benefits, why don't more companies manage this way?

Let's look at the differences in styles. In most companies, decisions come from the top, in some form of "this is how we're going to do things." Employee input is minimal, and it isn't encouraged. Deadlines, targets and projections come from the top, and are expected to be met or surpassed. Managers are bosses who rule through an atmosphere of intimidation. It's all about control.

With management by values, employees are included in the workings of the company. Decisions are made through consensus. Managers operate as coaches, encouraging creativity and striving to bring out the best in their team. Values are generated through discussion and agreement, establishing companywide ownership of those agreements. It's about empowerment.

Larry Lees, a Total Quality Performance Examiner for Pacific Bell, says, "Our total results are dependent on the people who produce for us. I can't (succeed) if my people aren't functioning properly."

Lees feels the success of values management lies in:
Freedom (to make decisions and choices)
Flexibility (to make changes when needed)
Rewarding creative thinking (and innovative ideas)
Valuing the individual (for their unique talents and contributions)

Okay, you say, but won't managing this way cause problems? Not everybody can operate like that. True. This operating style isn't for everyone. And it doesn't happen overnight. Lasting changes take two to three years to take hold. A great deal goes into creating and nurturing those changes so that they become "old hat".

In a subsequent column I'll go into some how-to's. But here's a hint. It's all about people. Need more clues? Then answer these questions (they're loaded, by the way, so watch out!):

1) Who are your customers?

2) Who's really the boss ?

3) To grow your business, what's the first step to take?

If the answers seem obvious, think again! This is about values and about people. What customers see is a reflection of both. Maybe the question is, what do you want your customers to see and think about your business? You can have a more profitable company, and have employees be excited to work there!

"Look at every path closely and deliberately. Then ask yourself...
Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good;"
-- Don Juan, from "A Path With a Heart" by Carlos Castaneda