VISION, MISSION AND VALUES
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Vision, Mission and Values Introduction The idea is that your team wants to be doing what they’re doing, with the people they’re doing it with, and love that they’re part of it. It’s not even about what they do. It’s that they’re part of something that matters to them, and because of that, they’re filled with energy, drive and passion. It’s never, ‘I can’t believe its Monday’, or, ‘Hump Wednesday’, or, ‘TGIF’. You would be shocked if anyone expressed themselves that way in your organisation. The team turn up ready to play, and no one is watching the clock for how soon they can get out of the door. I’ve seen whole teams pack up their desks at 4:45pm for the 5pm mass exit. That is not considered the Gold Standard when it comes to a great culture! Your team should be filled with purpose and conviction and they strongly believe in the organisation’s values. They are committed to the vision and mission and contributed to its creation. Your team knows why what they do matters. They see how it fits into the bigger picture and that it matters. In fact, everything anyone does can be linked to the greater purpose of the team. Expect to see your team putting their heart and soul into what they do. People – especially high performers – want and expect a place to come that knows what they do matters. They don’t want to do it just for the money. However if you don’t take care of the culture of the organisation, then all people can care about is the money. There are two things to care about when running a business. The mission. The money. Generally, in that order. Sometimes a crisis will mean the money has to matter, but never at the cost of sacrificing the mission. What you write down as your vision, mission and values is a start. No matter how well written they are, unless it’s how the team conducts itself, it’s useless. There is no value in writing down what sounds good, and paying lip service to it as you go about doing the business of doing business. People – the best people – must see a congruency between the two.
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And the best people will be congruent. They will act in a way that is consistent with the company’s mission.
VISION AND MISSION These statements are used to explain what we’re about – what we stand for and what we care about. They must be a truthful expression of your organisation. And you must hire, fire, performance manage and give feedback based on them. Your team must know what they are and consider them worthy of their daily efforts. The vision statement defines your organisation’s purpose – it tells us where we’re heading. The mission statement defines what we’re about. Don’t get caught up in whether you have both or just one. Either way is just fine. Just make sure it is a true representation of what you’re here to do.
CREATING THE STATEMENTS We do this with our team. Our first two versions weren’t that inspiring, but it’s where we were at with our thinking and what we agreed to at the time. Over the years they have been revisited and reviewed and updated. We love our statements, now. We don’t tend to question them anymore, because we love them and know they truly represent us and how we think. If your team isn’t at the stage, yet, where they can do this, then come up with what you believe would work, and ask the team what they think of it. Get some discussion going and see what they say. I believe the real value of this is gauging how engaged they are in the conversation. If they’re indifferent to it and don’t engage in the process of discussing it, it’s pretty strong feedback to you as the leader about the level of engagement your team has. If they do engage, be pleased with where your culture is. Generally, it’s rare for teams to engage in this discussion unless culture has been a priority. This is a good way to get conversations about culture going. It’s a great place to start if it’s new to you and to your team.
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Values Values are the operating philosophies or principles which guide the organisation’s conduct, both within and external to the organisation. So, if mission statements tell you what you’re about right now, and vision statements tell you where you’re aspiring to be, the core values is to help how you will get there. They are all about what we are going to do, to achieve our mission and vision. So another way to see it is this – the vision is the ‘why’; the mission is the ‘what’, and the values are the ‘how’. Values
Mission
Vision
As with everything that is qualitative, we must care about these values translating into real actions and behaviours. It’s one thing to have them published somewhere, it’s another altogether to have them as part of your performance reviews. As well as our values being on our walls, our doors and in a giant neon sign in the foyer, we recruit on our values, provide feedback to people on which value we think they’re doing best with or need to improve and discuss our values weekly in Weekly Wow meetings when we acknowledge people who have wowed us with their living the values. The values are always there to remind us of what matters most and how to conduct ourselves. There’s no point in having as your first value: ‘Let outstanding results do the talking’, and then not give feedback when someone doesn’t actually seem to care about this. And again, as with the mission and the vision, it’s worth including your team if you can in the discussions about what the values should be, and in what order.
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If you find they don’t engage (which is common when you first start caring and nurturing culture) then go ahead and create them, and talk about them, to get some momentum going. You will be alone for quite a while, and simply have to persist. Nothing will undermine your efforts to introduce values more than your own waning enthusiasm and focus. They will take their cues from you. They will do less than you until they see this is real and here to stay. It can take weeks and sometimes months for it to get picked up by the team. Interestingly, when people realise its ‘real’, some may choose to opt out. They thought they wanted to work within a high performing culture, and they will pay lip service to it, thinking they mean it. And then the reality of what it actually involves becomes clearer and it’s too much for them. Let them go. You will replace them with people who truly get and dig your new cultural standards and will care about them like you do. Recruitment at this stage involves even more focus on the values so you can show the rest of the team you mean it, the values are here to stay and that’s how we ride. It’s always interesting to see how different people respond to these new standards. For some there is resentment; for others there’s joy. For others there’s a ‘wait and see’ mentality, which can be frustrating. For some, it’s indifference and no matter what you do, it’s like they don’t even notice the values are there. Interesting! You can’t have bland and generic values. You can’t just come up with whatever is on your mind at the time. Coming up with the values takes time and thought and discussion. And don’t waste time coming up with values that are beige and won’t ‘bother’ anyone. Risk having some people read them and decide: ‘That’s not me’. Perfect. What an ideal way to get people to opt out. Here’s an example for you (which lots of companies had copied, which is awesome!):
“Live your dream” The Coaching Institute’s Vision “Inspiring the extraordinary” The Coaching Institute’s Mission
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We’ve gone one further and have a company manifesto‌
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THE COACHING INSTITUTE Suite 40, 37-39 Albert Road, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia. Phone: +61 3 9645 9945 Fax: +61 3 9645 7002 Email: wow@thecoachinginstitute.com.au Website: www.thecoachinginstitute.com.au SHARON PEARSON Disruptive Leadership Module 1 | Vision, Mission and Values Edition 1 | Version 3 | June 17 Published by The Coaching Institute Copyright 2016 Š The Coaching Institute All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or by information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher. In some instances, people or companies portrayed in this book are illustrative examples based on the author’s experiences, but they are not intended to represent a particular person or organisation.
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