Traditions vs. Values
Groups of people (companies, organizations, churches, etc,) develop traditions that are based on strong values, but the tradition may continue long after the underlying value is forgotten. This can become a problem; when traditions start to conflict with values, then we have trouble my friend (“with a capital “T”).
Eleven years ago I was in Seattle planting a church and working for Starbucks. The coffee company was considering whether to replace the manual espresso machines with much more efficient, effective, and consistent automatic ones. However, the new equipment just wasn’t the same: there was fear of losing the “human touch”; the sound of clanking and tamping, etc…
It’s a long story, but I had the opportunity to write a fable and get it into the hands of Howard Schultz (the CEO) who was concerned about the change. The narrative was about a woman who had fond memories of going to her grandma’s house for the best fresh peach pies she’d ever had. One day she had a vision to open up a bakery that sold those pies and also replicated the culture of grandma’s house: Swing music playing, 50’s style furniture, table games out—the total “grandma’s house” experience. Since grandma always claimed that the perfect pies were a result of the oven, this young woman bought the exact oven from her mother (who now owned grandma’s house) and used it in her first store.
The concept exploded. City people loved the country desserts as well as the oasis of a down-home family space. Soon more stores opened, and the oven—including its glass front and manual dials—had to be duplicated. Ten years and hundreds of stores later, the company was doing great, but the experience had started to deteriorate. Some of the employees didn’t understand the culture very well, and the original idea of having a “place to come home to” had morphed into lines out the door while people waited for fresh baked goods to take home with them.
One of the biggest challenges was that the ovens which had served the stores well at first were not so great for the exponential demand. The original appliances were temperamental and a bit slow. Though R & D could design equipment that would work more consistently and twice as fast, the founder was worried that the experience would be compromised—after all, the ovens had always been the centerpiece of the store design and feel; one of their biggest traditions.
After replacing the oven in a few stores, it was quickly discovered that customers could get their product more quickly, and that the employees had more time to devote to maintaining the culture and values upon which the stores were initially based.
I never found out if my story influenced Howard’s decision—but hey, within six months all the manual machines were being replaced by automatic ones (a guy can dream)!
Five months ago Brad Abare wrote something I’ve been chewing on since. Traditions aren’t always bad, but where they don’t fully support the values, they should be seriously examined and probably adjusted.
Traditions guard.
Values guide.
Traditions perpetuate the good and the bad.
Values parse the good from the bad.
Traditions make way for the predictable.
Values make way for the potential.
Traditions are inherited.
Values are imbedded.
Traditions can stall progress.
Values can stimulate progress.
Traditions can be eliminated.
Values can be illuminated.
Traditions can stop a company.
Values can sustain a company.
Traditions are neutral to meaning.
Values are necessary to meaning.
Traditions are contextual.
Values are collective.