Now, let's consider the different kinds of challenges and
opportunities that we can face when we try and voice and act on our values,
depending on the level within the organization where we sit.
So, often when I talk to very junior people in an organization,
people lower in the hierarchy, they'll say,
you know of course I would like to act on my values but
you got to understand I don't have a lot of experience,
I haven't been here very long,
I don't have a network of contacts and relationships,
I don't have the formal authority or legitimacy,
and so it's really pretty risky for me to act on my values.
When I get to be more senior in the organization,
when I get to be CEO,
I can take that sort of action.
But then, when I talk to people who are more senior in the organization,
CEOs and C-suite executives,
they'll say something like,
"Well Mary, of course I would like to act on my values,
but you've got to understand I have so many people who are counting on me.
I have a responsibility to shareholders,
to employees, to customers,
to community, it's really pretty risky for me to act on my own values.
These are high stakes here.
If I were lower in the organization this wouldn't be so dangerous."
And then I would talk to people in the middle of the organization,
and they will talk about feeling squeezed from both sides.
Now, these reasons, it becomes clear that people have reasons for why they think it's
hard or difficult or risky to act on
their values no matter where they sit in the organization,
and these are true.
These are valid in many cases.
But on the other hand,
we nevertheless find people at every level in
the organization who have found effective ways to voice and act on their values.
The thing is they have different degrees of freedom,
they have different levers they can pull,
and they have different constraints,
depending on where they sit.
So let's take a minute to look at a few of the leverage points,
the levers that people have available for
themselves when they try and voice and act on their values,
and you can think about which ones might work for you depending on where you sit.
The first one is to think about learning from lived experience,
paying attention to the experiences you've had in the past
in your workplace and in your own careers.
Take a look back at the stories you generated for the tale of two stories.
What's worked for you in the past when you try and
voice and act on your values and what hasn't.
And take a look at other people in your organization or around you in
other organizations and try and learn from their experiences, negative and positive.
Obviously, the longer you are in your career,
the more of these experiences you will have.
But you start having them the moment you start living.
The second lever is seeing for positive reinforcement.
What I mean by that is that often we're very quick to remember the negative experiences,
the failed attempts, the price we
feel we may have paid for trying to voice and act on our values.
But we often tend to forget the many times when
we have found effective ways to express a point of view,
to influence other people,
and we often forget those examples that we've seen in others.
So look for those examples.
Another part of seeing for positive reinforcement that I learned from one of the managers
we interviewed about a time when she had effectively voice and act on her values,
is that she said, "I learned that if there was silence I didn't take that as a no.
I simply took that as a pause."
In other words, if she raised an issue and then she didn't get a response immediately,
many people would just assume,
"Well they're not listening to me,
they don't care they're not going to do anything."
But she decided to view that as a pause and not take it as
a reason to not to go back to them again.
A third lever is to think about how you select your mentors and your support system.
It can be important to have different types of mentors and support systems.
On the one hand you want to have people who may even be
outside the organization but who know you very well.
People who can understand how you're effective,
what works for you.
And then it's also important to have a network,
a support system, a set of mentors,
within the organization who know the organization very well,
and people you trust who can help you and advise you on what strategies might work there.
Another tip or another lever to think about is distinguishing preferences from orders.
One of the women that I interviewed who had found
effective ways to voice and act on her values said, "You know,
whenever my boss came to me and suggested something or
told me something that I thought was problematic,
or that violated my values,
I took it as a suggestion,
I took it as a starting point for the conversation,
rather than as an order.
And by framing it that way,
when I responded, when I asked questions,
when I tried to problem-solve with him,
it didn't feel as if I was accusing him of something unethical.
It gave him a graceful way to have this conversation with me and even to change his mind,
because I framed his position as a suggestion,
as an opening gambit."
Another leverage point is to pay attention to form and substance.
I was doing a program with a group of senior managers and
middle managers in a major multinational consumer products firm,
and we brought them together to talk about strategies for giving voice to values.
One of the things that we learned from the senior managers
is that there are ways that others can
bring issues to them that are more
likely to make it easier for them to respond effectively.
They talked for example about,
don't just grab me in the hall when you have this kind of values conflict,
actually make an appointment so that they can focus,
so I won't be distracted or pressured,
or uncomfortable in a public place.
You bring data or bring information so I have a way to assess how valid your concern is.
And when you bring these challenges it's
useful if you can frame them in a way where you are
actually suggesting some possible beginnings of solutions,
so I feel that we're having a problem-solving conversation together,
rather than you just coming in to blame me for something and dump something in my lap.
So pay attention to form and substance.
Another leverage point is to play to your own strengths.
If you are most comfortable positioning yourself as a learner,
present your questions and your ideas that way.
If you're most comfortable in debate and dialogue,
present them that way.
Play to your strengths.
Another leverage point is to align your point of view with purpose.
This means, align it with your own personal purpose because that's a way for you to
generate the self-motivation that will help you actually raise the issue.
Figure out what's important to you and why this issue aligns with that.
But then also align your point of view with broader organizational purpose,
because that gives you a source of arguments to draw
on when you're trying to communicate with others.
And finally, as we've been saying with giving voice to values, practice.
The more you practice,
the more likely you are to actually effectively and often voice and act on your values.
So now, as we conclude this conversation,
I invite you to reflect on times when you've seen people at
senior levels in the organization who have found
ways to effectively voice and act on their values,
and also people at more junior levels within the organization,
and to try and identify
the different leverage points that they used at these different levels.
Think about that and try and consider what can you learn from that.
Mary GentileCreator/Director, Giving Voice To Values and Professor of Practice
