Using values to motivate your staff

Climate Change is rising up the business and political agendas again. With the next United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Paris, all eyes are on businesses to deliver the sustainability that leaders need to meet the challenges of society. Yet there is a tension between the messages from Government to business and how business leaders choose to act.

Understanding the role of values in how managers make sense of complex issues such as Climate Change has implications both for business support and for how business leaders deliver change within their organisations.

The Breakfast Briefing took place on 6 May 2015 and saw Dr Sarah Williams, OU associate lecturer and principal associate of the Sustainable Business Company explore the role of values in making sense of complex ideas. Sarah also showed how understanding the values of senior managers and staff can help business leaders overcome internal tensions to fully engage with sustainability challenges.

Dr Sarah Williams is an OU associate lecturer and principal associate of the Sustainable Business Company. Her doctoral research with the OUBS demonstrated why Government messages over simplify value-based approaches to business.

View the presentation slides from Dr Sarah Williams on Using values to motivate your staff.

The Breakfast Briefings are a series of face-to-face events, as part of The Open University Business Network. These events aim to foster collaboration and create an opportunity to explore together the latest and best of business thinking. We understand business and want to help your business flourish by sharing our insights into leadership and management at this series of collaborative events.

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