Page 153 - Performance Leadership

142 • Part III Principles from the Values and Social Dimensions

F igur e 9.2
Strategic Context of Values on Performance Management

Organizational
Value 2(+) Organizational
Organizational
Value 1(+) Value 3(+)
Driving Value

Behaviors (+)

Train Smooth Satisfied Financial
staff process customers results

financial results. If your strategy is all about customer intimacy, it is prob-
ably based on values such as going the extra mile, flexibility, and empa-
thy. If your strategy revolves around product innovation, likely it is
driven by values such as quality, challenging conventional thinking,
and never giving up. The staff looks for ways to create a superior prod-
uct experience and perhaps pride themselves in a certain exclusivity.
This leads to attracting clients that are willing to pay a premium price,
leading to a profitable operation.
However, if we believe that values affect behaviors and behaviors drive
what people do with performance indicators, the opposite should also be
taken into account. Every organization, like every person, has a “dark
side” too. Every organization has negative values as well; they are the
other side of the coin of a positive value. It is important not to dismiss
negative values; they have the same power the positive values have. After
all, they’re values. Here are some examples of negative values: oppor-
tunistic, greedy, stubborn, wasteful, doing things by half, bureaucratic,
inflexible, overemotional, overengineered, and not invented here.
Positive values and negative values may correspond, as shown in
Table 9.1.
Just as positive values can’t be set, negative values cannot be avoided.
They are something we have to accept as our dark side in the organi-
zation. However, we can be aware of them and accept them as part of
the deal, as shown graphically in Figure 9.3.