Communicating Values


Trustworthy. Innovative. Competent. Caring. Collaborative.

These are the values that define and drive Kettering Health Network. At Network General Orientation we share these values with our new employees, and tell them that these are merely words on a badge or on a banner until they are put into action. Values that are lived out become behaviors in our everyday interactions with our patients, their families, and our teammates.

In a blog on the Globoforce.com website, Scott Thompson talks about connecting our people with our values. He suggests that there are three ingredients for making this connection:

  1. Values need to be operationalized.
  2. Values need to be lived – starting at the top.
  3. Values need to be communicated.
Thompson elaborates on each of these, then closes by sharing that one of the best ways to communicate values is through our stories.

“For example,” says Thompson, “one storyteller we spoke with had just moved to a new city for a job when she found out that she would need to undergo a risky surgery. Not having any family in her new town, she was scared. When she woke up from surgery, her manager was sitting at her bedside, and then when she woke up again later, another teammate was there with her. ‘Love’ is not just a word on a wall at this company, but rather a value that people live and connect with.”

How do you live and communicate KHN’s values? What stories do you tell your team that emphasize these values?

In the Called to Care Resources, the section on Your Personal Purpose, Values, and Vision Statements, we find this suggestion: “Ask yourself, ‘What values do I want to live by?’ and ‘How will I live them?’ They need to be clearly described so you know exactly the behaviors that demonstrate that the value is being lived. They need to be consistently acted on, or they are only ‘good intentions.’”


https://resources.globoforce.com/globoforce-blog/human-values-and-organizational-values

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