Every business wants a dedicated workforce. That’s why taking employees into account when setting company values is so important. When employees share the same values as the company they work for, they become more engaged in their jobs. This results in increased productivity, better job satisfaction and lower stress.
Unfortunately, research from Gallup found few businesses manage to create a company culture where employee goals merge with their own. In fact, only 27 percent of American workers strongly agreed with the statement that they share their company’s values. An even smaller portion – 23 percent – said they can apply their company’s values to their daily tasks.
Why do approximately three-quarters of U.S. workers not share the values of the businesses they work for? Part of the reason, Gallup mentioned, was that there’s a disconnect between the company culture executive leaders imagine and the one their employees sit through day to day. Executives say their company stands for innovation, customer satisfaction and employee empowerment but the way employees work makes them feel like this couldn’t be further from the truth. This could be for a whole host of reasons – for example, a lack of engagement, not having the proper tools or not having the structure and goals necessary to guide employees. Regardless, the way many Americans complete their work doesn’t match their company’s values.
Using OKRs to Align Values
If there’s a divide between the culture executives want and that which employees actually experience, how can business leaders go about fixing it? One way is to have every employee create a set of objectives and key results. This process requires everyone in a company, from leaders on down, to really focus on the values of their organization. They look at these values from the perspective of their own position and create measurable goals and key results to help them succeed.
As Bret Crosby, a former Google Analytics employee who left to support his own startup, wrote for Fast Company, OKRs naturally help employees and businesses focus on the company’s needs and goals. Before adding OKRs to his startup’s goal-setting methods, Crosby noticed his employees didn’t understand how their daily routines and short-term projects fit into the company’s overall directive. Crosby chalked it up to the nature of startups, but when he added OKRs, he quickly saw his employees grow more motivated and gain a better understanding of their importance. OKRs allowed them to truly understand their organization’s goals and create their own related objectives.
A great way to align company and employee values is to use transparent goal-setting software that everyone in the business can access. This way, employees of all levels can see how their goals relate to those of their peers and superiors. They can also track progress to see how close a team is to accomplishing a particular objective and help each other along the way.
By using OKRs and goal-setting software to align employee values, your business can support a happy, engaged workforce.