Minneapolis Police Department Core Values Were Just Empty Words on the Wall.

Twenty-twenty (2020) has been a year of challenge. From a global pandemic to social unrest, businesses of all sizes have discovered the extreme importance of messaging, employee support and upholding core values. Throughout the last few months, we have seen huge global businesses thrown into the fire for the lack of protection and professionalism, and small companies thrust into the spotlight for their response and advocacy. During this time, we were approached by several businesses from industries across the board to advise on their response to these urgent issues. While each response was tailored to the needs of the company, one thing was for certain: crafting a meaningful, supportive and relevant message is always easier, and more representative of the business, when they already have a strong set of core values or CoreVals™. This is because these CoreVals have already been adopted by both leaders and employees, shaping their expectations and the light in which they view their work. By using these statements to craft the messaging to your team, they stay true to the ultimate message, values and standard of your brand.

The stories of the businesses who are under fire for inappropriate, off-color and controversial responses to these issues are seemingly endless. From mom-and-pop restaurants to Starbucks, it is amazing how much poor messaging was approved (or leaked) for dissemination. This has led to employee turnover, lots of bad press and brand boycotts to name a few consequences. You may be thinking, “don’t these mega corporations have Core Values (and an HR team) to guide them”? That, my friends, is why what you do with your CoreVals™ is just as important as simply having them. As a Culture Czar® it is my mission to ensure that organizations not only have a great set of relevant CoreVals, but also that they are NOT just words on the wall, but adhered to from the  top, down. That means that the actions by everyone in the organization should reflect these and if they don’t, there are consequences. Leadership should also promote, hire AND unhire™ based on these values.

There have been many scandals resulting from actions by stakeholders of an organization that have been unaligned with their CoreVals™. This will happen, no matter the stakeholders and no matter the CoreVals™. However, it is the response of the leadership that makes or breaks the fallout. Take, for example, businesses like Wells Fargo and Boeing who have had huge fall-outs over the last decade. But this isn’t just something pertinent to large businesses. The importance of CoreVals™ and the ability to adhere to them is just as important in start-ups and governmental organizations as it is in Fortune 500 companies. 

The Minneapolis Police Department, the organization that sparked a Nationwide movement with the murder of George Floyd, lists a Mission and set of Values on their website. Let’s take a look, shall we? 

Mission: The Minneapolis Police Department is a public safety agency that relies upon these values and behaviors for its effectiveness.

Trust // Accountability // Professional Service

Values: 

• We recognize that public safety is not just the absence of crime; it is the presence of justice.

• We are truthful and ethical in all we do, say, and write.

• We hold each other accountable.

• We build and rely upon trust with our communities.

• We do not engage in conduct, public or private, that would sully or shame the department.

While at face value this mission and values seem strong and straightforward, the exposure that has occurred both within MPD and the country’s system as a whole has presented these as anything but the truth. The values are just words on the wall and are not being followed at all. They are a great set of CoreVals™, if only the leaders adhered to them. I think that it is safe to say that based on the actions of the four police officers involved in the murder of George Floyd, the slow response from their superiors and the exposure of their past offenses without consequence, these values served as nothing but a facade. If these officers were held to the standard of these values in the past, if they did share these values from the time that they were hired and they had been trained to use and talk about the values every day, George Floyd may still be alive. 

Instead, the fallout within the Minneapolis Police Department alone has been swift and will never look the same again. To begin with, several organizations have cancelled their contract with the department, including the Minneapolis Public Schools, Minneapolis Public Parks and The University of Minnesota. Additionally, the Minneapolis City Council Members unanimously voted to defund the Minneapolis Police Department. While that does not mean complete abolition of the organization, it will result in extreme budget and personnel cuts. There is also unrest amongst those who continue to work within the Minneapolis Police Department. Citing a lack of support, 7 officers recently resigned with at least another half-dozen set to take early retirement. This is just the tip of the iceberg, as Minneapolis, amongst other cities, begins to take steps toward police reform. If leaders had historically set the example and made sure that the CoreVals™ were alive, thriving and being used to drive performance, how much better could the department have been? Values are beliefs and if the officers in question believed these values, they would not have acted the way they did. That is what we are striving for with values, that everyone shares them and naturally acts in concert with them, not because they are made to, but because the values are so ingrained that they instinctively act that way and without hesitation.

In Flint, Michigan, a city who has had its own struggles with trusting their local government, the tone has been much different. On May 31st (on the viral video), Sheriff Chris Swanson had his team put their weapons away in order to march with the protesters in their community. Instead of feeling threatened and otherwise unheard, the simple action led to a peaceful, unified protest for racial justice. Sheriff Chris Swanson practiced something that I have been sharing with leaders for a long time: sawubona. Sawubona is a Zulu greeting from where I was raised in Southern Africa, meaning “I see you.” As a full acknowledgment of a person’s presence, it’s a wholehearted recognition of the total person in front of you and what he or she brings to the world. Sawubona suggests a moment of actual connection, and people around the world are remembering this connection between the Flint Sheriff and Protesters. 

Having a set of CoreVals™ is important. Equally, if not more important is a belief-led intuitive adherence to these values by its stakeholders. If your CoreVals are just words on a wall, what good are they? If the leadership in the Minneapolis Police Department (or Boeing, or Wells Fargo) had been talking about & instilling these values since their creation, they could have been a beacon within the community. But for these organizations, it may be too late as cities vote to defund police departments nationwide. 

As we move forward as a community, remember that as a business, you hold the power to use your voice to influence your employees, your customers and the impact you have on the world. If you are curious about how, reach out for a 1:1 with the Culture Czar® at Will@CultureCzars.com.