Values Wallpaper
Your values look beautiful on the wall. Now watch the Monday meeting and see which ones actually survive contact with reality.
Walk into any corporate lobby. Framed on the wall, clean font: “Integrity. Innovation. Collaboration. Excellence.”
Now walk into the Monday meeting. Does the person who raised a concern get thanked or side-eyed? Does a failed experiment earn curiosity or blame?
Patrick Lencioni called these “aspirational values” versus “actual values.” Every organisation has both. The aspirational ones go on the poster. The actual ones govern what happens when someone disagrees with leadership or asks an uncomfortable question.
When “integrity” is on the wall but the team watches a leader bend rules without consequence, the wall becomes wallpaper.
Culture is not what you declare. It is what you tolerate.