Values Misalignment: Treating the source of individual, team + organisational dysfunction

Are your personal, team or organisational values not syncing? If so, read on.

I've been seeing my chiropractor over the past few months.

Regardless of whether you are for or against having your spine manipulated, there is a moral to this story. It’s about the concept of misalignment and the parallels that can be drawn between the philosophy of a chiropractic method and organisational values.

Speaking from personal experience, when out of alignment with your values system, you start to become very dysfunctional in the way you approach goals, tasks, and life in general.

We believe that it requires consistent and considered attention and does not discriminate from person to person, or from organisation to organisation.

If you’ve never sat down with a chiropractor and have them explain their approach to wellness, well here it is at a high level.

A Chiropractor's primary goal in treating any patient is to identify the source of dysfunction — not the resulting symptoms of pain.

As with organisations, the pain they might be experiencing with culture or team dynamics is often symptomatic of a deeper problem. Relieving the pain is simply a by-product of treating the source of dysfunction - It is the result of.

Just as some nerves in the body aren’t able to communicate effectively when misalignment exists, in a similar fashion, the people of an organisation struggle with communication and synergy when the organisation's spine (aka its values) is out of alignment.

By actively using organisational values as your compass and not just a symbol, you can help take the guesswork out of the people experience equation.

Like many deeper organisational problems, spinal dysfunction doesn't necessarily come on in an instant. It bubbles away under the surface until it reaches a point where the pain is too great to continue.

Someone must speak up and shine a light on it. Once in the spotlight, the deeper problem can be addressed, often taking an equal amount of time to reset as it took to surface.

Our body and mind and the resilience to cope with toxic cultures and misplaced values can only take so many bumps and bruises before we break.

Alarmingly, research shows that up to 22% of employee turnover occurs within the first 45 days of on-boarding. What’s even more disturbing? The cost to replace one employee is estimated between 50% to 200% of their annual salary (based on their position).

When organisations start to realise that the on-boarding stage is an opportunity to test their values and culture by virtue of an external perspective, they will be far better off. Further to this, a thorough values-based assessment must form part of an authentic on-boarding process.

It is an opportunity for both the employer and potential employee to gain some mutual insights and minimise the opportunity for future dysfunction. The undesirable alternative is to do nothing and wait for the symptoms of pain to emerge and disrupt.

*Do you need to check in with your values today?