By Danae Johnson & Charles Holmes

“This isn’t a project. This is an ongoing journey.” – Marni Johnson

BlueShore Financial (operating name of North Shore Credit Union) is a successful credit union that underwent a re-branding exercise with the vision of becoming a boutique financial institution. In Part I of this feature series, we outlined the challenges faced. Here, we look at the tools employed in responding to those challenges.

1. Cultural Values Assessment (CVA)
A Cultural Values Assessment is a powerful diagnostic tool used to discover the health of an organization’s culture. When working with an executive management team who already have a good understanding of the importance of culture and values, however, the approach taken will be different to that of an organization where values are not already in place.

Questions that arose ahead of the CVA

• Would a top-down or bottom-up approach be most impactful?
• Should the organization revisit the values currently in place?
• Would employees fully grasp where the organization was headed and choose appropriate values?
• Should all employees be included in a CVA or a carefully-chosen selection?

The executive team at BlueShore Financial concluded that inviting all employees to participate in a values assessment would be the most impactful and engaging approach. “Our values say in a few words what is important to us, not just the executive, so ensuring all staff had a voice in the process was critical,” said Marni Johnson, VP of human resources and communications.

The results of the CVA revealed employees were open to change and had a desire to see the organization transform; they also highlighted areas that needed focus, which helped to develop a plan for next steps in the culture change journey. Importantly, by choosing a company-wide assessment, it showed employees that their input was valued, which helped them engage in the follow-up exercises.

2. Values Dialogues Sessions
In order to gain a better understanding of the top 10 Desired Culture values that would play a pivotal role in BlueShore Financial’s future, employees took part in a series of “Values Dialogues”, with representative groups from across the organization, including the executive team.

Through the four “Values Dialogues” sessions, participants:

• Developed a specific definition and meaning for each value.
• Articulated real, observable behaviours that exemplified the values in action.
• Outlined behaviours/contra-actions that could undermine the values.
• Told real stories demonstrating the value being lived at BlueShore Financial.

Throughout these sessions, participants actively shared their perspectives, building on each other’s insights. The sessions gave employees a voice and, importantly, pushed them to reach a deeper understanding of the importance of values in their own professional activities and at an organization-wide level.

The sessions were transcribed to capture the findings and a “Values Dialogues Summary Report” was produced for the executive team, which included:

• In-Depth Overview: of each of the 10 values in the Desired Culture, highlighting the “strengths”, “opportunities” and “key themes” to emerge from the dialogue sessions. It synthesized the “suggested behaviours” and “contra-actions” and provided recommendations and actions for bringing these values more to life.
• A Summary: of the Executive Team session using direct quotes so as not to dilute the meaning and specific language.

“Participating in the process provided me with a great opportunity to be a part of something that was larger than my daily role. I’m proud of the values and the collaborative process – I was inspired by the experience,” said Danny Mason, concierge.

3. Values in Practice
After launching the values at the annual All Staff Meeting with a lively introduction and heartfelt video presentation, the values came to life in multiple ways, including:

• Communications from executives weaving the values through the messaging.
• “Meetings in a Box”, a tool-kit developed for managers to discuss the values with their teams.
• A booklet entitled “Keep On Rockin’” describing the organization’s Strategy 2015 given to all employees and prominently including the new core values.
• Recruitment and attraction processes have been refined to gauge the values alignment within the interview process and ensure a fit between employees and the organization.
• Values are regularly discussed in team meetings and shape the way BlueShore Financial conducts business in and outside of their organization.

The processes and approaches used to identify and solidify the values resonated with employees and the executive team. Significantly, the work reinforced BlueShore Financial’s decision to embark on a positive change journey and highlighted the ongoing importance of (re-)definition within an organization.

Read Part III now.

Danae Johnson is a leadership coach, engaging facilitator and culture transformation catalyst. She is the founder and principal of Thinking Partners, a consulting company committed to improving business results and leadership capacity through coaching, strategic human resource practices and values-based cultural transformation. She is based in Vancouver, BC. www.thinkingpartners.ca

Charles Holmes is a master convener, gifted facilitator, skilled educator and empathetic coach. He helped establish the Dalai Lama Center for Peace + Education in Vancouver and co-founded the Academy for Systemic Change, a global community for collective capacity building in business, education and community development. He is based in Vancouver, BC. www.ceholmesconsulting.com