A fast food organization introduced a set of values recently which were well communicated and enthusiastically welcomed. The senior management team publicly endorsed the values and said: ‘This is where we want to be in 12 months’ time so that we are ready for industry consolidation. You will all be measured on achieving these values in your day-to-day work.’

The values were put together by a consultancy, which put a great deal of effort into interviewing a broad range of people in the organization. People at all levels liked the look of the values, but the situation three months later is that activity and conversations on the values are diminishing. A lot of people are saying:

‘We are doing this already.’ There is still some enthusiasm, but people are now getting scared that they will fall short of the values somehow, and are starting to resent them.

What needs to happen now?