It has become very popular for organisations to state their values as a way of signalling who they are and what they stand for.

If you are in an organisation which is just starting out, then you are in a fortunate position for identifying values and then embedding them into the day-to-day operations of that group. At that early point, when staff are getting to know each other and are working out ways to get things done, what’s needed is for the founder, or other senior person, to drive these values through the organisation by their example and with enthusiasm, and to do so repeatedly. The problem is that many larger organisations, especially in our public sector, have been around for a long time, so in implementing values, we must use different tactics and strategies to ensure that they have the meaning.

There are lots of valuable lessons in understanding how others have tried to implement them. We can see what works and what doesn’t, and some of these really are important. For example, we know values will not turn a toxic environment into a safe one, and we also know that a handful of people deciding what the values are, and then simply communicating them to everyone, will almost always result in failure.

Values can be very effective at creating and sustaining high levels of trust, if implemented correctly. This is because, as they apply to all, they are fair, which supports the relationship part of our circle of trust. As they also deal with defending principles, they help ethics, which support the truth part of our circle of trust.

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In the book, we spend a chapter looking at an area of team dynamics that is often underestimated. Moral authority, as we saw, plays a vital role in a person’s ability to manage other people.

Only a lengthy period of exemplary behaviour can regain the moral authority of those who have lost it. Unfortunately, people in this position often will not want to pay this price and might simply have to issue orders. People might even just look the other way when problems are happening, as they know others will not take them seriously if they try to sort it out. Misconduct or other poor behaviour loses moral authority, which then impedes people from challenging others over their conduct. People leading others without moral authority is seen as unfair by those in the team and this hurts the relationship part of our circle of trust.

Another reason we might lose moral authority is because of our basic human need to fit in with others in a group. This is simply what we do as social animals, but it can carry danger. If you look at police officers when they report for their first day at training school, for example. People start to bond soon after meeting with others. We have a need to be insiders, not outsiders, and such is our need for acceptance, that we can do things that we later regret. This might be posting inappropriate photographs or comments on social media or in chat rooms, in some badly judged attempt to be seen favourably by others. Once posted, these things are seen by others and cannot be unseen. Individuals lose their integrity and moral authority, perhaps not even fully understanding the implications of their actions. As we sometimes see, if the public become aware of this, it causes a great deal of harm to the service. What people can do, in their ill-advised attempts to belong, to be a part of, can actually hurt relationships, a part of our circle of trust. 

This subject is especially important in our large hierarchical organisations, as everyone looks up for guidance and instructions, so those that lead others are important figures.

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The difficulty with honesty is that we assume it’s a straightforward issue. We think that when we look at something and judge it dishonest, others will do the same. As we saw, this is likely to happen, but only at the extremes. At those points, acts of honesty, or dishonesty, are obvious to many of us. It is in the middle where the problem lies.

In the book, we illustrated this issue in the middle with a simple swing-o-meter. When you see this, you can understand how people can look at the same issue but judge it differently.

This realisation shows the need for guidelines and signalling to provide anchor and reference points.

Honesty is important, we can all agree on that, but with large organisations sometimes having huge inventories and assets, it really is vital. With the realisation that honesty can be problematic, we can then ensure guidelines are in place. Staff are then free to focus on what really matters, their customers.

Issues relating to honesty can hurt the truth, which is part of our circle of trust.

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There are few mechanisms, in any workplace, as powerful at stopping bad things from happening as when any staff member feels they can speak out, when they notice something wrong happening. 

Those reports and inquiries urging people to speak up should give the green light to anyone who feels that they need to speak up. As we see regularly, though, it is often not what people do.

In the book, the longest chapter covered this subject, showing just how complicated it was. Our examination of hierarchies, authority bias, how people are treated for speaking out, and many other areas showed that what initially seems simple is far from straightforward. 

People know they should speak up if they see a problem or concern. If they do not, it is because they see obstacles, even danger. The way for them to speak up is to remove those dangers, to create an environment when it is expected and perfectly normal for people to do this. 

This area can hurt trust because challenging, or speaking up, is strongly linked to safety, part of our circle of trust. An unsafe workplace will be low in trust.

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As we noted in the book, whistle blowing sits at the extreme end of the challenging scale. Whistle blowers stop tragedies from happening. They challenge poor, or dangerous, activities in the workplace, stand up against homophobia, misogyny, bullying and much more. Not only do they do those commendable things, but they also have legal protection in the UK, which leads to a very simple question. Why do they regularly come off second best, having stood up and spoken out against such things? 

Whistle blowing happens because there are no safe mechanisms in place that allow staff to speak up. Mechanisms that allow a person to speak and to protect their physical and mental wellbeing along with causing no harm to their career. 

If you are just relying on a whistle blowing system to prevent issues, you may well have a false sense of security because it is unlikely to pick up all problems from within the workplace.

The first step, when looking at whistle blowing, is to try and work out what other mechanisms and systems are not working well enough to allow managers and others to sort out any issues at an early point.

Being able to speak out against wrongdoing should not involve careers being damaged and people feeling in danger. This affects every part of our Circle of Trust: Relationship, Truth and Safety.

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In large complex, multi-layered organisations, it is highly unlikely that those at the top have a good grasp of what daily life is like for those at the bottom. This is not a problem if everything is good, but how do you know whether it is good?

You need to understand what is happening in your organisation, including in the places where you cannot see. Is there danger hidden away, ready to boil over so that people get hurt, or worse? I can help drill down to find out what is going on, and to help to find any danger. I can work alongside your teams, or provide additional resources to help.

This is a far easier and safer way of sniffing out discontentment and danger, than waiting for the pain, followed by the inquiry afterwards.

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Maybe you’re not sure whether you need help, or if we can provide it. The easy way to find out is to talk by booking in a session, or sending through a query on the contact us page. It will cost you nothing and we’ll get back to you as quick as we can.

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