Page 185 - Retaining Top Employees

McKeown10.qxd 4/13/02 8:51 AM Page 173

The Role of the Manager, Part 2 173

Values statement A written summary of those values that
are “core” to the organization—values that cannot be abro-
gated in pursuing the mission. In its values statement,an
organization is saying,“We want to attain our mission, but not at all
costs: here is the way in which we will attain our goals.”
Here is the values statement of Peet’s Coffee and Tea:
• Supply only the freshest,highest quality coffee and tea;
• Maintain exemplary employee relations and training;
• Encourage life-long customer relationships;
• Remain the source of coffee knowledge;
• Be ethical and socially responsible.
and the organization’s core values is of paramount importance
to long-term retention.
Culture
The third way in which you Write It Down
must represent the organi- If your organization’s core
zation to all of your values aren’t formally writ-
employees is in communi- ten down,but you know them from
experience,write down what you
cating the organization’s
think those core values are; it will
underlying culture. This is
help you communicate them clearly
more difficult to nail down,
to your top employees. If you have
because culture involves any doubts about what you’ve written
much more amorphous (“Are we ‘aggressive’ or are we mere-
concepts than mission or ly ‘persistent’? Do we put customer
values. You must commu- service above employee satisfaction
nicate how the organiza- or the other way around?”),talk it
tion works, using examples over with some of your senior col-
leagues.Who knows? You may prompt
such as the following:
the organization to produce a formal
• Does the organiza- values statement!
tion value face time
or is e-mail the preferred method of communication?
• What is the organization’s approach to work-life issues?
Are employees expected to work 80-hour weeks without
complaining or is there a push to make sure employees
go home at night?