Recently I was the featured speaker at the Akron Area Society of Human Resource Management Strategic Conference. My sessions were “Utilizing Calibration to Differentiate Performance” and “Back to Basics- Developing Better Succession Planning.” I enjoyed the opportunity very much, and I would like to thank Jim Krosky for inviting me. I met a lot of wonderful HR professionals that day, who are all working hard to bring the best HR practices to their organizations.
During my sessions, there was much interest in the development and evaluation of organizational values. I shared some examples of values with attached behavioral anchors, and wanted to reiterate the point that these anchors need to be specific behaviors. Think of a behavior as an observable fact; something that you can see or hear someone say or do. An inference on the other hand, is your opinion and something that you conclude. Let me give you an example. If I say that Jane is “sloppy,” this is an inference. What behavior would make me infer that Jane is “sloppy”? There are several answers to this; her uniform is wrinkled, her desk is cluttered, her work has errors. These are behaviors. It is an important distinction to make in performance reviews. Driving to behaviors gives employees more valuable feedback that is actionable. It also takes the emotion out of giving negative feedback because it can not be disagreed with as easily. Attached behavioral anchors to organizational values gives your employees specific ways to demonstrate and live your values.
For more information on sourcing organizational values I suggest the book The Advantage, Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business by Patrick Lencioni (2012).
