But traditional ways of achieving this do not provide the flexibility and responsiveness necessary for a customer focused stance in a rapidly changing and unpredictable environment. Alignment now has to be achieved through a shared understand ing of what is important to the organisation, its employees, and its customers - that is through shared value priorities. Values Values shape and give significance to our lives. They are reflected in the priorities that we choose, the decisions we make and the actions we take. Values describe what the organisation is about and give meaning to stake holders.
Successful organisations recognise that shared values increase commitment and productivity.
Explicit values provide organisations with an efficient way to build commitment, guide decision making, align actions, increase potential capability, and achieve a state that unites members in effective perfor mance. Applications Shared value priorities also provide the link between individual mentoring and organisational change. The VMI is a suite of powerful measurement tools which provide a validated way of measuring individual and organisational values based on 125 standardised definitions. As well as determining the values which are important to indi viduals, teams and organisations, the values inherent in the organisation's documents can also be measured. The reports generated also surface implications for leadership style, organisational character, developmental paths, skill development, motivation and corporate mission.