Partner Article

The banks: in danger of going wrong again?

Antony Jenkins, CEO of Barclays, announced they are going to redefine their values and while on the surface this may appear a good thing, the reason why they are doing it needs to be examined to ensure it really does bring around not just change, but true transformation.

Care needs to be taken and questions need to be asked. All too often when there has been a crisis, scandal or wake-up call, the first thing that companies do is to re-define or even re-create their values and that’s not necessarily the way to fix it. They need to ensure that this is not just for a PR Campaign. Core Values are NOT marketing slogans, they are the lifeblood of an organisation. Many banks include a value that relates to ‘putting the customer first’ however, if you were to ask a member of the general public, I am sure they would disagree based on the recent activity

One of the main problems is that most organisations are not fully in alignment with their values. This results in a breakdown of trust, loss of respect and a demonstration of actions and behaviours that don’t represent what the company truly stands for at it’s core, ultimately affecting their productivity, profitability and reputation, which has been very clearly displayed in the Banking industry. You see all too often, Company values that are displayed in attractive frames or wonderful wall displays, pretty to look at, but they might as well be just wallpaper, if they are not made ‘Alive and Active’ with-in the business.

Company Values, if discovered and defined correctly don’t change, as they are the core of who and what your organisation stands for and what drive everything you do. Operating Procedures, Polices, Best Practices, and Strategies can all change, but your core values do not.

Making your values ‘Alive and Active’ means:

• Making all Decisions in alignment with them • Setting the vision and organisational goals on a solid foundation of the company values • Building strong relationships and engaged teams
• Recruit staff who align with the company values • Resolve conflicts and form collaborations based on the values
• Engage employees into the values, rather than tell them what they are (this creates cynicism) and if the employees are not aligned, it is better for the business and the individual for them to leave
• Live and breathe them in all that they do – they are the heart of your business.

Values are who you are at your core and what your business stands for, so Barclays’ values may not actually need to be redefined or change, just be brought ‘Alive and Active’

And if it is discovered, that there does need to be a re-definement of values and the behaviours linked to them, then the whole organisation needs to be engaged in this process for it to work.

Making values truly ’ alive and active’ in the Banks is the key to a turnaround for a more sustainable, trusting and profitable future for all concerned.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jo Simpson .