The Met Office is the UK’s national meteorological service, with 1,800 employees providing critical weather services and world-leading climate science.
Their existing values have served them well for a decade, but a new vision for their work brought about an opportunity to refresh and refocus. Our clients wanted their new values to bring everyone together, guide action and help celebrate strengths.
And we had three guiding principles. The refreshed values had to be:
Built by Met Office people, for Met Office people
80% current reality and 20% where they want to be
fit for the work they do now and will do in the future
Using our Home Values personality model© we gave everyone a voice, discovering what Met Office people do when they’re at their best, what they value, what makes them unique and what they aspire to be.
Across workshops, calls, virtual sessions and a survey, we spoke directly to 21% of the organisation.
We involved leaders too, making sure the values fitted perfectly with the future strategy.
“They’re wonderful - by far the most meaningful and authentic I’ve seen (and please believe me, I’ve seen many).”
And what was the result? At the strategy launch event, we set up a ‘Forecast our Values’ stall where a whopping 91% of people agreeing that the new values truly reflected who they were.
The thing we heard again and again was, ‘This is exactly who we are.’ Genius. It’s who we are became the collective description for the values.
of people agreed that the new values truly reflected who they were.
We were all set to launch when Covid 19 hit. But we completely agree with our wonderful clients that when times are tough, values are more important than ever.
So, we threw ourselves into creating an amazing virtual launch. There was a very special video, hosted by the CEO, which showed the values being unveiled in each location by a colleague who embodied their spirit. A values takeover on the intranet shared stories and encouraged colleagues to get involved with online social activities. A leaders toolkit helped managers discuss the values in virtual team meetings, with a network of champions to keep the conversation going. We’re now focusing on embedding the values at every stage of the hire to retire journey, starting with recognition and recruitment.
Don't worry, we won't spam you with emails every day, just the occasional case study, inspiring communication or COVID-19 updates that we think may be of value to you.
Hattie Roche
Co-Managing Director and Strategy Chief
Carol Whitworth
Founder / Inspiration & Innovation Director
