By Dr. L. Scott Kimball
Business leaders around the world are oftentimes looking for effective ways to represent their organizations to the world – a concept referred to as branding. Many of these organizations have a strong sense of who they are and why people should want to conduct business with them and they do a good job communicating that to their respective markets. The reality though is that many organizations fail to have a strong sense of their own guiding principles and cannot clearly articulate their vision or communicate unique aspects of their identity (brand) in a way that compels both employees and customers to develop emotional attachments with the organization. This emotional attachment and loyalty have been proven to result in an increase in productivity, profitability, customer loyalty, and staff retention. The power of vision is extraordinary!
CREATING A SHARED VISION
Identifying and communicating a clear vision is one of the most important functions a business leader can perform. A vision is a mental image of the future of the business. The vision defines who and what the business is, why it exists, and where it is going in the grand scheme of things. In order to understand or identify your organization’s vision, you must define:
- Your business’s fundamental reason for existence beyond just making money
- The timeless, unchanging core values of the business
- The “big picture” aspirations for the future of the business
- What drives your passion for doing what you do as an organization
A shared vision exists when every person in the organization accepts the vision, understands the vision, takes ownership of the vision, and most importantly aligns their behavior with the vision.
A strong, shared vision can provide a sense of structure, stability, direction and purpose, build and strengthen loyalty through involvement, and set high standards of excellence that reflect high ideals and a sense of integrity. A strong vision also inspires people to align their energies in a common direction that reflects the company’s unique strengths. For a vision to accomplish this, consider the following criteria:
- The vision statement must be a powerful and positive statement
- The vision must be concise yet comprehensive (short and sweet)
- The vision must apply to all areas of operation
- The vision must be focused on the essence of what you do as a business
- The vision must be communicated (sold) to all stakeholders
CORE VALUES
Many organizations, large and small, have some version of core values, whether they’re formally articulated or not. The question of how ‘sticky’ the core values are — how deeply and consistently they’re understood, and how frequently they’re reflected in action — depends on the quality of leadership, the substance and clarity of communication, and the resonance that employees and other stakeholders the organization have with the proclaimed values.
Just like vision, if core values are tucked away nicely in a strategic plan manual or on a fancy placard on the wall, the value and utility are null and void. In fact, an organization is better off to not even have a vision statement or core values unless they are going to integrate them into the organization through effective alignment.
Whether your individual or organizational values include purpose, integrity, creativity, trust, respect, or human rights, thorough and insightful discussion is required so that you and others are very clear about what your selected words and statements mean, and what they look, sound, and feel like in action. Then it becomes more likely that there will be alignment between stated and demonstrated vision and values. What does ‘ethics’ mean in your organization? How do you know when you’re being ethical or unethical? What does integrity mean? Where is the line? What does it mean to be committed? What does it require? What do ‘trust’ and ‘respect’ mean? Do people feel trusted and respected? What does ‘customer care’ mean? Do the customers feel ‘cared for’? What does ‘good citizenship’ mean? Is it demonstrated? Do the company’s highest priorities reflect these values? Are these values observable in everyday behaviors or norms? How do you know when you’ve arrived at living your vision, or if you’ve excelled at ‘being’ a particular value? And so on…
Behavior is always a reflection of values, though it’s certainly influenced by one’s degree of passion and commitment toward the vision and core values. So in a company that has one set of formal core values and another set of “lived values,” based on what you observe from the actions of the company’s people, there exists an informal, perhaps unspoken set of norms and expectations that has been accepted and rewarded in the organizational culture. This is a very basic measure of “Do we do what we say we do?”
Enron offered the classic example of this, with a formal vision, mission, and ethics statement accompanied by core values which were subjugated by cultural messaging that gave the values of individual ambition, competition, the illusion of profit; and dishonesty a higher priority. The latter were ultimately reflected in the behaviors seen in and associated with the company.
In high performing organizations, there is a greater dedication to aligning behavior and action with the highest stated values, even when such an alignment requires constant attention to and flexibility to changing market conditions. Whether or not vision and core values are ‘lived’ in an organization depends on the influence of leaders, the level to which employees are engaged, and the type of culture that is established and supported in the organization. Vision and core values become “who we are” and “how we operate” as an organization.
CHALLENGE OF ALIGNMENT
A commitment to clarity about vision and values is always a challenge if assigned a lower priority than the day-to-day activities and tasks. For most business leaders, making it a priority and designating the time is the commonly the issue. For a larger organization that often allocates time and resources to vision and values work (usually in the form of strategic planning), the key challenges include keeping it from being just another boring process and aligning the many groups and individuals with the company’s stated vision. When business leaders refer to vision or values as an “initiative,” people will respond with thoughts or words such as “oh boy, here we go again!” But when the vision is presented with passion and clarity, people are likely to buy in and fully commit to the vision. Commitment is demonstrated by daily behaviors that are aligned.
The rewards of being clear about vision and values, and aligning the priorities and behaviors throughout the company with its stated vision and values, are extraordinary. They include:
- Greater clarity when making decisions
- The ability to recruit top-talented employees
- A greater sense of passion and meaning associated with vision and values
- An increase in employee emotional engagement, and
- Increased performance as an organization
For business leaders, being clear on vision and values offers two additional benefits — a source of motivation and inspiration to add value to the individual roles of employees and other stakeholders; and a tangible product that can provide clarity for branding identity of the organization.
To reap the rewards of vision and values, one must have clear intention and deliberate focus. With annual or semi-annual vision and values check-ins, and a clear idea of what it means to have alignment processes woven into daily activities, alignment will become more the norm than the exception and will transform an organization in line with the vision and values. The possibilities are limitless!
