Kate Ellis Blog

Kate is currently Chair of the Oil and Pipelines Agency. Prior to this she was the Group Chief Commercial and Business Development Officer at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). 

Starting her career in the private sector as an engineer at Jaguar Cars, she then spent 22 years at BP in senior commercial roles in a variety of businesses including international gas pipelines, crude oil trading, petrochemicals and shipping. She joined the public sector in 2015. Kate has also sat on the Boards of a Richmond charity (RPLC), Birmingham Business School and the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, London.

Value-centred leadership is a constant theme and point of discussion on programmes at Windsor Leadership. Much reflection takes place around how each of us defines our own set of values, and how we build our leadership standards and identity around them. This in turn influences the organisations we choose to join and the way in which we seek to steer them, the most important principle being to ‘walk the talk’.   

Embodying our Values at Work

The most inspiring principles can be flashed across every screen saver and mouse-mat, but if teams don’t see their bosses making tough decisions in order to embody those values, they won’t believe or follow them. The time when I knew that my business, in the energy sector, really meant what it said, was when I resisted peer-pressure pushing me to approve a very lucrative deal which, though entirely legal, went against our values. I was confident that my bosses would support me. They did and it was the most powerful message they could have sent.

The Toll of Conflicting Values 

However, working for an organisation whose values conflict with your own can be the most frustrating experience. I always remember a former team member, who had left for a much higher paying competitor, returning after a couple of years simply because the new organisation’s values were in such conflict with his own. He told me that the disconnect was starting to take a physical and mental toll on his health.

So how do we deal with stakeholders who might have different values from ours? In some cases the differences may be complementary and so it is worth looking beyond the discordant notes to explore possible synergy.  If there is no common ground at all it is going to be a hard slog, but if there is some common ground, though the partner or client is driven by different fundamental objectives, it may be a source of strength. Respect and understanding are key.

When collaboration is hampered

In both the public and private sectors I have seen situations where mistrust or lack of understanding of the distinctive, but valid, differences in values between the two sectors have hampered vital collaboration. And I’m sure this is similar for many stakeholder relationships, particularly those across different sectors.

At a simplistic level, in the private sector, the imperative to deliver stellar results for customers and shareholders better than anyone else, drives (successful) companies towards hard-edged performance metrics and constant innovation. Anything (or anybody!) which doesn’t deliver can be shut down or sold off. Equally simplistically, government must deliver (directly or indirectly) essential services for everyone, regardless of how practical, popular or successful their endeavours. There is no walking away from running a criminal justice system or an education service, and while innovation is important, so are reliability and accessibility.   

Fresh perspectives

While there will generally be an overlap in values, it is also likely that certain values will differ on either side of this sectoral divide, and yet the combination of innovation, performance focus, service orientation and deep, long term client commitment, can provide all the ingredients for the excellent public services we need. 

I have seen highly effective collaboration across sectors, but I have also seen too much distrust and lack of understanding, sometimes leading to destructive tension. Good leadership makes all the difference, and experiences such as the programmes at Windsor Leadership, where participants from all sectors of society explore the similarities of their challenges, as they come to understand the contrasting pressures and values in each sector, can be invaluable. So it is perhaps worth considering the role that a willingness to embrace other viewpoints, through frank, honest and transparent conversations, might offer in providing a tentative step forward from an impasse.

Positive messaging

Engaging with external stakeholders to understand their values and objectives can also be very healthy if it makes us reassess our organisation’s stated value set.  In a world where many customers want the products they buy to reflect positively on their identity, and those with sought-after skills have ever more choice in which employer they choose, keeping abreast of changing trends, whilst not losing sight of your mission/vision/purpose is essential. Yes, it’s certainly easier said than done. The growing importance of ESG factors in investment decisions has also, for some time, driven greater focus on how a corporation delivers as well as what it delivers.

I worked in a corporate branding team, over twenty years ago, at a time when a brand identity and its associated values were maintained for many years, particularly in the case of large corporations who wanted to project stability and seriousness. We only refreshed our brand because, after a series of mergers and takeovers, there was a need to create something new which colleagues from all corporate heritages could own and identify with equally. Would this still ring true today? Are values timeless or can they become dated and require modernising? It’s a question I often return to. If you are also reflecting on this, perhaps the following points might be worth considering:

• Are our values standing the test of time, or do we need to reconsider them? 
• Do key stakeholders still want to be associated with our brand? If not, why not? 
• How might we ensure that the next generation of talent wants to work for us or with us? 

Universal Values?

My experience of developing a brand and identifying engaging values that united a new, much bigger, and even more international corporation was interesting from another perspective. It forced us to think about the extent to which our favoured values really were universal. Would they appeal to employees, customers and shareholders worldwide, or did they speak largely to their Anglo-American creators? As organisations in all sectors seek to increase the diversity of thought of their teams, how do we ensure that our stated values are a unifying source of confidence and not an inadvertent source of exclusion?

So in summary, values are a critical source of strength in organisations, and role-modelling them consistently is a key aspect of good leadership. In a diverse and ever more rapidly changing world, keeping those values fresh, ensuring that they invite rather than exclude, and exploring the values of others with positive curiosity is always worth doing. And as you take time to reflect on this, why not consider these three questions:

1.  Have your personal and organisational values evolved and should they develop further to match the challenges of tomorrow? 
    
2. Do your organisation’s values resonate with all the groups you want to engage with? 
    
3. How can you build constructive partnerships with potential stakeholders whose values don’t entirely match with those of your organisation?  

If you would like to explore this subject further and hear more from Kate, our September 2024 online workshop will focus on Stakeholder Expectations, in Value-Centred Leadership. Find out more here.

Disclaimer: 

The views expressed in Blogs, Articles, Podcasts and Videos posted on Windsor Leadership’s website and social media channels, remain the opinions of the individuals and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Windsor Leadership. Windsor Leadership does not accept any responsibility for the accuracy of the information shared. We hope however that the views prove to be useful in reflecting on the challenges of leading today.