The large number of employees also makes a code of conduct unavoidable. In many places, this also includes values that are desirable and are even used to assess employees and managers.

What happens time and again in everyday organisational life is that values are set in the hope that they will have an immediate generative effect. Values are therefore often highlighted in management workshops, propagated in training sessions or strived for by senior management. This is particularly noticeable when a change project is announced that is based on establishing new, better values: ‘We need to become more effective, more innovative, more entrepreneurial, more agile, build a culture of error, become a family, drive cultural change.’

General lack of understanding of the importance of values

We need to talk. These words often trigger anxiety, whether at home or at work. In fact, for many, announcing feedback is right behind the dentist and tax return in terms of popularity. As coaches, we know good ways to counter this discomfort: Using the classic sandwich approach or the burger-method, where feedback is constructively wrapped between two or more layers of praise, recognition and mayonnaise. These methods are particularly effective when it comes to correcting errors on a factual level. However, if the focus of the feedback is on emotions or a sustainable change in behaviour, traditional feedback does not seem to be sufficient. If real change, if more creativity and personal responsibility are to be encouraged, feedback should not be improved, but be based on completely different basic assumptions. The first basic assumption that needs to be reconsidered is that the person giving feedback knows better what should have been done or said.