INGRAIN & LIVE OUT YOUR MISSION, VISION, AND CORE VALUES
Your mission, vision, and core values are what provide the illumination people need to be inspired. These are the critical elements of your organizational foundation. Unfortunately, most employees have no idea what the mission, vision, and core values of the organization are.
I was giving a presentation to an organization on the topic of leadership. I started talking about the importance of knowing and living out the core values of the organization. This particular organization was a step ahead of many others by having their core values in an acronym form, making it easy to remember. The room was full of employees that ranged from front line in rank all the way up to management positions.
I said, “Your core values are the foundation of everything you do in your organization. They are the ruler that you measure all behavior against. Your organization is actually one step ahead of many because your core values are in an acronym. What are they?”
Cricket. Cricket. Not a word. I had experienced many organizations full of employees who had no idea what their mission, vision, or core values were. In this situation, I was sure at least someone in the group had to know what the core values were. After all, the organization went through the trouble to put them in an acronym, which is something I always recommend. Well after getting the “deer in the headlights” look from every person in the room, it became apparent that there was a huge disconnect between what the organization wanted their employees to know about the core values and what they actually knew.
People don’t care what you put in a pretty frame and hang on a wall. They want to see your mission, vision, and core values come to life in every decision you make and every action you take. Your first priority is to ensure that you are demonstrating what the core values of your organization look like in action. If you have a core value of integrity but demonstrate poor work ethic, your followers will not only fail to be inspired, they will grow resentful.
In addition to living out the mission, vision, and core values, you need to be verbalizing them on a regular basis. If you doubt the importance of this, conduct a short experiment on your own organization. Ask ten different employees to tell you in their own words what the mission, vision, and core values of the organization are. You will be surprised at how many cannot tell you. This is the result of assuming that if they have been told once or it is included in their employee manual, on the web, and on the wall, they should know it. They don’t. They need that ingrained training where they see it lived out and heard often.
Too many managers try to use policy alone to gain compliance or desired behavior in followers. That doesn’t inspire people to want to do better. When you sit down with someone and talk about core values, you take the conversation to a different level. When you discuss your core value of respect when resolving a conflict between two employees, you move beyond policy to values that inspire people to a higher level of behavior and performance.
When you are sitting in meeting after meeting with employees setting goals, objectives, and strategy, your mission, vision, and core values should be coming up every time. The more you are discussing these things, the more employees will remember them. If your followers can’t articulate in their own words the mission, vision, and core values of your organization, there is a huge disconnect between what hangs on the wall and what hangs in their hearts.
-Excerpt from Kimberly Alyn's book titled How to Inspire People to Achieve More
I was giving a presentation to an organization on the topic of leadership. I started talking about the importance of knowing and living out the core values of the organization. This particular organization was a step ahead of many others by having their core values in an acronym form, making it easy to remember. The room was full of employees that ranged from front line in rank all the way up to management positions.
I said, “Your core values are the foundation of everything you do in your organization. They are the ruler that you measure all behavior against. Your organization is actually one step ahead of many because your core values are in an acronym. What are they?”
Cricket. Cricket. Not a word. I had experienced many organizations full of employees who had no idea what their mission, vision, or core values were. In this situation, I was sure at least someone in the group had to know what the core values were. After all, the organization went through the trouble to put them in an acronym, which is something I always recommend. Well after getting the “deer in the headlights” look from every person in the room, it became apparent that there was a huge disconnect between what the organization wanted their employees to know about the core values and what they actually knew.
People don’t care what you put in a pretty frame and hang on a wall. They want to see your mission, vision, and core values come to life in every decision you make and every action you take. Your first priority is to ensure that you are demonstrating what the core values of your organization look like in action. If you have a core value of integrity but demonstrate poor work ethic, your followers will not only fail to be inspired, they will grow resentful.
In addition to living out the mission, vision, and core values, you need to be verbalizing them on a regular basis. If you doubt the importance of this, conduct a short experiment on your own organization. Ask ten different employees to tell you in their own words what the mission, vision, and core values of the organization are. You will be surprised at how many cannot tell you. This is the result of assuming that if they have been told once or it is included in their employee manual, on the web, and on the wall, they should know it. They don’t. They need that ingrained training where they see it lived out and heard often.
Too many managers try to use policy alone to gain compliance or desired behavior in followers. That doesn’t inspire people to want to do better. When you sit down with someone and talk about core values, you take the conversation to a different level. When you discuss your core value of respect when resolving a conflict between two employees, you move beyond policy to values that inspire people to a higher level of behavior and performance.
When you are sitting in meeting after meeting with employees setting goals, objectives, and strategy, your mission, vision, and core values should be coming up every time. The more you are discussing these things, the more employees will remember them. If your followers can’t articulate in their own words the mission, vision, and core values of your organization, there is a huge disconnect between what hangs on the wall and what hangs in their hearts.
-Excerpt from Kimberly Alyn's book titled How to Inspire People to Achieve More
Comments