Today I have heard a lot of discussion on the radio surrounding the Hockey Hall of Fame announcements and the induction of  Pavel Bure – a former Vancouver Canuck.   Pavel Bure was recruited by the Vancouver Canucks just prior to his defection from the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s.  Pavel was known as “The Russian Rocket” and demonstrated his phenomenal skill while wearing the Canucks uniform. (sidebar:  I was thrilled to have watched him live on several occasions).

Pavel wasn’t a typical Canuck in that he wasn’t a major contributor to the community.  In my opinion, the Vancouver Canucks have set a high expectation on their team, and management, and their participation in community and charity efforts.  This can be quite different than other teams who have a lower bar in place.  Add to that, Pavel’s rocky departure from the Canucks.  Two years ago, Vancouver retired the jerseys of three key players in Canucks history and added others to a newly created Ring of Honour.  Pavel was not chosen for either.

At the time, I remember writing a blog post on how honourees were chosen.  Hockey skill,  leadership, community (social) and team contributions were all key factors.  Each of the players chosen unquestionably met each of these criteria.  Roll ahead to today.  Pavel Bure was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.  He was arguably one of the best goal scorers of all time, so from that perspective a good inductee choice.  Sportscasters spent the day questioning why Bure hadn’t had his jersey retired or been added to the Ring of Honour.

How does this hockey story apply to you as a business person?
If you have established criteria for a particular role or recognition award that reflects your values, do you ignore some of those values and only focus on one component of the criteria to recognize an employee or co-worker?
I contend that an organization is only truly successful when their values are integrated into every aspect of their business activities.  These values are not just words on a wall, but living and breathing components of every action embraced and demonstrated by all levels of the organization.

I have been working with a client of mine on a project where the work we were doing had to truly integrate the four key values of the organization.  This made our work so interesting and provided a great “bar” to measure our work against.  It added life to what otherwise may not be “alive”.  Over the past year while I have been working on changes within my own business I have become very clear on my own values and they have become strong determinants in deciding what work to take on, who I work with, what I do and what I wish to project to others.

Are you really clear on your own personal values?  Do you know the values of your business (or those of your employer’s business)?  Are these values integrated into every component of the organizations activities, culture and decisions?  If no, why not?

Next Steps
1.  Become very clear on what your personal values are?  Evaluate how these values fit with your employer or business values.
2.  Identify ways to integrate the values of your business/organization into decision making, actions and the overall culture.
3.  Take steps to recognize when values, decisions and actions are all in alignment!  How does that look/feel and what does it mean to you and your team?

So, should Pavel Bure have his jersey retired?  I don’t think so because he didn’t embrace all of the components so important to and reflected in Canucks who embraced their values and culture.