At their most recent meeting, East Anglia RFCA’s executive board endorsed a new set of organisational values and behaviours chosen for the Association by its workforce.
These values are:
- Professionalism
- Respect
- Integrity
- Honesty
- Fairness
- Moral courage
The values arose from a staff conference last autumn when during which the senior management team led conversations about our organisational goals and how we wanted to work.
Towards the end of the conference, staff split into randomly assigned syndicates to have more detailed discussions about values they felt should underpin the support offered to reservists and cadets.
There were some great conversations in the syndicates, with volunteers capturing key conclusions and sharing highlights during the feedback session that followed.
After the event, the Association’s communications team compiled a list of one-word values and a number of longer sentences taken from the syndicates’ outcomes. The idea was to identify the values and behaviours most commonly identified so staff could vote for their favourites.
Around the festive season and into 2025, the comms team issued a survey offering staff the choice of values they felt were key to the Association’s work, and what behaviours would reflect those values.
The Chief Executive planned to present the top five values to the Board for their endorsement, but there was a tie for fifth place. Board members were happy to endorse all six top-scoring values, along with sentences setting out expected behaviours related to them.
The five behaviours are to:
- Value the work of all staff equally and give credit where it’s due
- Be accountable for our actions and hold others to account if needed
- Make ourselves approachable and listen as much as we talk
- Accept we’re not all the same and respect people’s differing experiences
- Be considerate of other people’s needs, in and out of the workplace
Formalising organisational values and behaviours can help the RFCA stay on track in offering Cadets, Reservists and volunteers the support they need to learn and perform at their best.
In approving the options the workforce voted for, the Executive Board passed its thanks to all staff who got involved with the process, whether at the staff conference or through the vote.