It’s not just what you do – but it is who you are that counts. Values have always been such an integral part of what we do at RedBalloon. But they are nowhere listed on a wall in our offices. Yet we speak of them every day.
I was chatting with one of my colleagues (who has been with RedBalloon for just a few months) the other day and he said ‘Of all the companies that I have worked with – RedBalloon is the only one which truly ‘gets’ values’. He continued ‘anybody and everybody in the organisation at some time during any conversation in any day – might just slip into the conversation – “now that’s an example of our the first value”.’
When we designed our own recognition program ‘Red Hot Rewards’ (years ago) we took a very simple approach and for the first year or so – the only thing we did was recognise people for living the values. It remains the most prestigious awards of all that we now do. Simply we use our platform to capture the stories about how people are living the values. Peers nominate each other, and at the company meeting, I read these stories to the whole company. Sometimes we laugh out loud together, when they are read, and other times there is not a dry eye in the house. The fact the stories explore the impact that our values are having and that we don’t pretend there is no emotional impact means it is so human and authentic, and ultimately real. This is why our values are so much about who we are. The video below explains more.
It's not just what you do - but it is who you are that counts... Isn't that a line from Batman??? Anyway, I like it!