When your culture contradicts your values

If you haven’t heard of them, they are cuddly rewards handed out to the class with the highest attendance. (I know because one of my children’s schools uses them…)
On the surface, it’s harmless fun and good motivation for the children. But I think they’re a perfect example of how systems, even well-meaning ones, can completely miss the point.

Today I’m talking about:

Because when a child who’s late every day due to anxiety, or who misses school for hospital appointments, sees that bear handed to the “best class”, the message is loud and clear: presence matters more than circumstances.

Imagine what that does for that child, and how that child is perceived by their classmates for being the reason they didn’t get that teddy.

And it’s not just schools.

So many organisations reward what’s easy to measure, not what matters most.
Presenteeism gets praised. Output gets judged with no context.

People quietly navigating huge barriers are overlooked, because the system wasn’t built to notice them.

Someone told me recently that a school can’t get Outstanding unless attendance is above 95% (or similar). I don’t even know if it’s true but that’s not the point.
Let’s say it is true, it shows how systems shape behaviour.

An inclusive school, or inclusive staff, are pushed into using ways to push up attendance even if they don’t believe in them.

Leaders are forced to work within constraints that pull them away from what they know is right.

And the same’s true at work.

We train managers to understand neurodivergence but if their KPIs are rigid and HR processes are unforgiving, what really changes?

That’s why training alone isn’t enough. It’s certainly a good place to start, but it is just that - a start.

Real inclusion needs system change, the kind that shifts how success is defined, how performance is supported, and how policy is written.

Simple actions to rethink recognition:

• Ask: what are we rewarding, and who does that exclude?
• Stop using attendance, hours or visibility as shortcuts for value
• Speak to colleagues, or your children and young people, and ask them: what would success look like if the system flexed for them?
• Use frameworks like our Action to Awareness to align culture with policies. If you want a copy, just reply to this email.

Action to Awareness framework - our tool for embedding inclusion beyond training. Some of you will have seen it in action in my recent masterclass but if not, just reply and I’ll send you the PDF.

Whether it’s a bear on a bookshelf or a name on a leaderboard, let’s make sure our rewards reflect our values.

And if we are pushed to do things in a way that we don’t agree with by the systems we’re operating within, challenge those systems.

Jess

PS Whenever you’re ready, here are some ways I can help: