Revitalising our values, refreshing our culture
At AngloGold Ashanti, we aim to be an inclusive and inspiring organisation. To ensure that these aspirations are embedded within our organisational culture, it is important that we embrace and embody values to which the entire organisation is connected.
In 2022, we began a process to revisit and re-launch our core values, as part of the culture transformation journey that started in 2021. We embarked on this journey following significant leadership changes, the impact of COVID-19, the sale of our last South African operation and the recent review of our operating model and organisational structure.
Our personal values, as individuals, and AngloGold Ashanti’s values are central to cultural change and how we work together and treat each other. Research highlights the importance of value alignment and its correlation with job satisfaction and organisational commitment.
We embarked on an extensive process to refresh our current values. This involved identifying matches between personal, current and desired values. We resolved to keep, evolve and strengthen these as our core values.
Our values are therefore not an overhaul of our previous values. Instead, we have we deepened those values to make them more relevant for our times.
Our refreshed values
These values are at the heart of our improved culture, serving as a guide to our behaviour in the way we interact with each other, our environment, as well as our neighbours and stakeholders.
Safety
We put safety first, before anything else
Respect
We treat each other with human dignity and respect
Integrity
We are honest and true to what we commit to
Sustainability
We make a positive contribution towards an enduring world
Excellence
We focus on continuous improvement towards a high performing culture
Collaboration
We work together to build a great company
How we arrived at our new values
- We conducted a global Barret Culture Assessment survey and analysed the outcomes for key insights into existing personal values compared to desired culture values
- We shared the insights with our Executive and regional leadership teams and used them as a basis for engagement and understanding of local assessment results
- The findings of the survey and the outcomes of various stakeholder engagement sessions were themed into key focus areas and our strategic human resource focus
- Values themes were grouped according to personal values, current values and the values associated with the desired organisational culture
- Our engagement included extensive listening circles where we received actionable inputs from our team members and further clarity on values focus areas
- We considered the impact of the Board as stewards and supporters of leadership in the evolution of organisational culture, and considered Board-proposed values
The refreshed values were initially launched to senior operational leadership in February 2023 and regional leaders were provided with toolkits with which to launch these values to their people. The values were launched across the organisation during March 2023.