VALUES AT THE HEART OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Key lessons from the GCU Value Project
- Organisational values provide a strong foundation for building engagement
- Securing and demonstrating top leadership commitment is key to engaging others in the activity
- Actively involve everyone in the process (staff, students, managers, unions)
- Identifying values is easy, embedding them takes time and commitment
- Managers and individuals need practical tools if values are to be embedded
- Focus on the positive, build on what works (appreciative enquiry approach)
- Recognise that identification and communication of corporate values and behaviours is only the first and easiest step in a long process and plan resources and expectations appropriately
Achievements
Since the start of the Values project:
- Nine out of ten staff say that they believe that the new GCU Values and value statements provide a good guide to behaviour
- Measurable increase in management participation in communication and cascade events
- Management workshop focused on the Behaviours Framework generated statistically significant increase in confidence in using it for a wide range of management activities
- Use of Values and Organisational level behavior statements within team focused activities generated measurable increase in:
- perceived link between own work and organisational values
- belief in the value of the team’s contribution
- belief in the value of the university’s contribution
- sense of pride in own and colleagues contributions
- Over 70% staff felt that Points of Pride exhibition was in sharing the great things that staff at GCU do
- Over 400 staff (largest for any recent university event) attended the final Values celebration event in 2016 and 9/10 rated it positively
- GCU Values and Behaviors are now embedded in a range of university procedures including recruitment, induction, appraisal and promotion, management training, 360 degree management review and the policy review process
- New leavers survey introduced showing >80% of staff positive about experience and recommending GCU
- Productivity gain proxy of c£7.5m on a £70m pay budget.
- The GCU People Services team were shortlisted for their outstanding Human Resources activities in the 2016 Times Higher Education Awards for Leadership & Management (THELMA) and won the prestigious Excellence in HR award at the Universities Human Resources Awards in 2017.
https://engageforsuccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/GCU-case-study.pdf
