Ranting about a cliché
Yesterday I read that the expression, “values, mission, and vision” was a cliché’. Today I’m on a rant!
I lead in what some experts consider the most difficult leadership arena, the not for profit world. Three key reasons people in the organization I lead follow are shared values, mission, and vision (VMV).
In the nonprofit world VMV are not a cliché. They are the life blood of organizational success. Without them organizations drift and eventually die.
Most organizations have VMV statements. Sadly, few employees know or care about these essential documents. Furthermore, fewer still are motivated by these “cliché’s.” Why?
The Sad Truth
Organizations that aren’t values grounded, mission guided, and vision driven have resorted to lower expediencies for guidance and motivation. In many cases, leaders control employees because they provide benefits and pay. Put bluntly, people show up and do their jobs because they get paid.
Research indicates that up to a point, money does buy happiness and motivate. You can read about American’s, money and happiness, in the Los Angeles Times.
However, Daniel Pink’s research indicates, money doesn’t always enhance productivity. Surprisingly more money may inhibit productivity.
Who’s at fault for making VMV a cliché’? Leaders! If your Mission Statement is gathering dust like grandma’s wedding album, blame yourself.
Questions
1. Can you repeat from memory your company’s mission or vision statements?
2. When was the last time you publicly articulated statements from your VMV?
3. If you burned the VMV statements would anyone care? Would anything change?
More than organizations
What’s good for the organization is good for individuals. Can you articulate your personal VMV statements or are you selling yourself short? Without VMV, I believe, life slips through our fingers. We may be busy but we aren’t effective.
*****
What tips can you offer for both crafting and communicating VMV?
VMV doesn’t have to become a cliche Dan. VMV matters.
My work as a consultant takes me into many organizations where things are not working. I can say without hesitation that often what is missing is vision communicated, understood, and embraced throughout the org. and right on to “implementation” level.
Often the gap that helps VMV become known as a cliche is leadership gone awry:
—-
– Not championing the vision from top throughout org.
– Allowing teamwork to become a collection of individuals working in each in their own way to meet a common goal
Vision, mission, and values — to exist and have impact — have to live in the daily work lives of team members. If leaders believe that embracing VMV is an option, then it becomes a cliche.
Kate
Kate,
While reading your comment, I thought about John Spence’s book, Awesomely Simple. In his list of the four biggest challenges CEO’s face, he lists “communicating vision” as number #1.
Thanks for your last statement: If… VMV is an option…” I think you’ve nailed it. These things aren’t optional equipment like leather seats vs. cloth interior.
I’m always thankful to see you have left a comment. I value your insights and perspective.
Best,
Dan
Kate is a featured blogger on Leadership Freak. Check out her bio and contact info at: http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/kate-nasser
Dear Dan,
What an wonderful subject .
VMV :), Values, Mission and Vision.
My opinion is that every VMV of an organization , depends on personal VMV of all employees, starting with last one and ending with top management .
Why I mention this is because , no company can apply values, mission and vision without having right people ( with their personal VMV linked to organization VMV).
An example can be:
Values: Personal Honesty- linked to company Value-Creating by providing quality products
Mission:Personal Kindness -linked to company Mission-Being there for customer, creating a bond,trust
Vision: Personal Improving-linked to company Vision-innovation and improving of services/products
all the best,
Simona,
Thanks for bringing the “people” side of this discussion to the front. You remind me of what I frequently read and believe. It’s all about the people.
Thanks for becoming a regular here. I appreciate your perspective.
Best,
Dan
Not only is VMV not just a cliche, I believe VMV runs rampant everywhere. We all operate from VMV whether we are aware of it or not.
We all have VALUES. Just look at a person’s calendar, checkbook register, or internet history file and you’ll see what they value.
We all have a MISSION. Some may not be aware of their mission (which could be selfish…)
We all have a VISION. Some people’s vision may be tremendously short-sighted.
All this means a great deal to the leader, who must step into the context of those they serve and walk them to an awareness of the COMMON VMV of the organization. Those within the organization must reach a point of decision: “Do I align my VMV with the organization’s VMV or do I move on?”
Scott,
Well said. We all have VMV. However we aren’t aware nor are we all intentional about living in them.
I wonder if urgency is one reason people forsake their mission? In addition, I feel the pressure of becoming short-sighted all the time. It takes awareness and intention to keep the long view in mind in a short view world.
I think your focus on the leaders role of creating awareness of the common VMV is spot on.
Thanks for all you do!
Best,
Dan
“I wonder if urgency is one reason people forsake their mission?”
YES. Urgency and distraction.
Perhaps our inability to concentrate is the worst problem of all.
perceptions of urgency perhaps…;)
Exactly, Doc. I keep a notebook with me at all times. Before the start of any day, I prayerfully consider what the VMV-tasks are for that day (the ones that MUST get done that ONLY I can do). I put those in the day’s page. That becomes my script.
Then, when tempted to chase after the “urgent”, I can go back to the script and stay on VMV.
btw, I call it my “Daily Sanity” notebook.
Dan – I’m with you buddy. Any organization or individual who does not know what they stand for (Values), why they’re working (Mission), or what they’re trying to achieve (Vision) is doomed to wander in a purposeless desert.
The issue is that VMV are either 1) badly articulated, so they become a silly exercise rather than an organization-defining, or 2) badly implemented, so they stay “up there” and don’t get translated into strategy and action.
Before you toss out VMV, consider that the fault may be with you rather than the model, and engage an expert to help you build an effective VMV-based foundation that supports game-changing strategies.
Mark,
You are so articulate! Love that first paragraph.
I’ll take you one step further beyond #1. The issue may be that VMV are NOT articulated at all. 🙂
On a personal note, I’ve consistently seen the value of bringing the outside in…
Best,
Dan
Mark is a featured blogger on Leadership Freak. Check out his bio and contact info at: http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/mark-friedman
Agreed! (I actually commented on this in yesterday’s post).
VMV often becomes a cliche when leaders fail to connect the VMV to the day-to-day activities of work, or worse, when they violate (or tolerate behavior that violates) them.
Is it cliche to choose a college major (but what happens if you don’t)?
Is it cliche to choose a destination and consult a map before getting in the car?
Is it cliche to envision an ideal retirement and then budget toward that?
In my opinion, people who fault VMV as ineffective tools have badly misdiagnosed the problem.
Tim,
Thanks for adding the idea of violating VMV and worse yet, tolerating those who violate VMV. When this happens these important non-essentials becomes options.
Your comment supports the idea that the responsibility for daily implementation of VMV is the leaders responsibility. Letting things slide may be worse than not having them at all.
I’m thankful you’ve taken the time to add value.
Best,
Dan
Mission, Vision, Values, Empowerment, Leadership, Innovation, Diversity, Motivation, Planning, Execution, Results. Ask any person leading an organization if these are important and you will get the same answer “Of course”. Reciting the words is easy, consistently communicating and acting on them in concert is more of a challenge. I would agree with the person who set off your rant. In many organizations, these words HAVE lost their true meaning, are not reflected in actions throughout the organization, and have become cliché. And when they have, we see the outcome reflected in the business and in the team.
Over the course of my career I have had the privilege to lead organizations in both the for profit and not for profit space. As the CEO of a nonprofit, shared belief in the VMV was the life blood of the organization. It was the reason our organization was able to attract supporters, volunteers, and the talents of a team of committed employees that at corporate salary levels we NEVER could have afforded. When leading in the for profit world, it is a bit harder. Our VMV rarely inspire the same level of altruism. For that reason, we have to more actively live these words consistently for our teams to believe in them and not have them go the way of the cliché.
Finally, here are the answers to your questions for one of the organizations I have the privilege to lead today:
1. Mission: At CorePurpose, we deliver innovative solutions to help our customers grow their business and their bottom line. Values: People, Acceleration, Promises, Excellence, Results (Together these spell PAPER – since values are nothing but words on a piece of paper unless we live them every day.) See I CAN recite it.
2. How often these values are shared – Daily in different forms
3. If we burned them would anything change. I hope not. The people on our team held these beliefs BEFORE they joined us and they demonstrate them daily. The PAPER is just a nice reminder.
Joan,
You always share such great insights. Thank you.
I appreciate your suggestion that VMV can be more difficult in the for profit world. Perhaps because there are other motivating factors (salary) that bind people together. Thanks for broadening the perspective.
Congrats on the RECITE! And I love the simplicity. I think mission and vision statements can lack a bit of specificity as long as they simply communicate the core ideas. Complex is confusing is not memorable.
Finally, I anticipated a different response to #3. Once again, thanks for expanding the conversation.
Best,
Dan
What tips can you offer for both crafting and communicating VMV?
I suppose there are times when it is unwieldy to do so, but a set of VMV that have not been drafted by as broad a cross-representation of the employee group as possible. Our initial mission statement years ago started off as a group project but ended up with the ED directing us to “just write it.” More recently, we chucked that one and had a paid consultant lead management and executive staff through a strategic planning process, which our board eventually endorsed. That was better, but I still think we lost an opportunity when we TOLD line staff what their mission and values are instead of involving them in its development in the first place.
Paula,
You bring up an interesting challenge. Do VMV flow down or flow up.
My experience is vision is the work of one courageous leader. In this case, vision flows downward.
In the for profit world, mission is the prerogative of owner/s. In this case it flows down.
Do values flow down as well? I think yes.
However, I hear you when you say, we lost an opportunity when we TOLD people their mission and values. I think the opportunity was participation but not direction.
Thanks for your comment. You made me think and make some decisions about who is responsible for VMV.
I think VMV flow upward when hiring new leaders/board members/etc. In this case, the new people don’t create new VMV unless it’s the reason for their hire.
Thought provoking comment.
Best,
Dan
Paula is a featured blogger on Leadership Freak. Check out her bio and contact info at: http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/paula-kiger
I learned a great lesson from Ann Rhoades, the first VP of People at SW Airlines and founder of People Ink. She shared with me that if you recruit people who share your values, you don’t have to motivate them. They are already motivated. I have found over the years that this is very true. Then as leaders we can focus on supporting and guiding a motivated and committed team along the journey. Oh, and to use a cliche – you need to “walk the talk” . People who come to you BECAUSE of your VMV expect you you live up to them or they don’t stay!
Joan,
Once again we are back to the people. 🙂
I’ll add that the reason good people lose motivation is more about organizational roadblocks than it is about motivating them. It’s more about, get out of the way.
Best,
Dan
Dear Dan,
The fact is that most of the leaders do not know the meaning the vision and mission and how they are connected. To achieve vision, organization has to achieve mission first. And vision is usually the ultimate dream or position where an organization dreams to reach. It might be a position, power or leader per se. I have seen on the official website of one of the public sector bank in India that mission is first and vision is second. And you can see how they have been written. I don’t know what is the logic and understanding of the leader behind writing mission first and vision second. http://www.denabank.com/viewsection.jsp?lang=0&id=0,1,11
Usually vision and mission statements are known to top management and people at lower level do not know what it actually means. Even vision and mission statements are not publicly announced or discussed. It is usually top-down decision and no participation from people from lower hierarchy in decision making. And most of the time, they are so vague that you can not comprehend it. In one of the organization, I have seen colored paper hanging in branch with words “INR 5000 million by 2010″. When I asked people what is the meaning of this, there were not aware. The same question was asked to branch manager, and then he replied that we have to make our deposit XYZ amount by 2010.
Even leaders change vision statement. It is very shocking and surprising. I think when organizations are own by one man, and the motive is to make money only then vision and mission statements are only formality. These organizations change their vision or mission as per their requirement it they only need money whereas organizations based on value do not change vision statement frequently. On the other hand, in organizations, where promotion is based on seniority, there are maximum chances of mis- alignment of value and vision because people are less qualified and they know that they will be elevated automatically after certain period. So they do not learn and update their knowledge.
The best way to craft and communicate vision, value and mission is to engage, empower, delegate, and participate people in decision making. Align people value with vision. Vision should be based on values hold by people. Each and every employee should own the vision and they should see their value in vision. So the base of vision, mission and performance is employee value. If you neglect the employee value, vision and mission is only policy statement but when you integrate, imbibe and inculcate employee value in vision and mission then it produces outstanding performance.
Dear Ajay,
I see your passion in this comment more than ever. Thank you for the link you left and for the real life story explaining that frequently mission/vision statements are simply formalities. They are irrelevant to a disengaged group of employees.
I’m interested that you have taken a bottom up approach to VMV formation. I took the opposite. Of course, I don’t mean to neglect the importance of buy in from everyone in the organization.
As always, thank you for sharing your time, insights and perspective on our discussions.
Best,
Dan
Ajay is a featured contributor on Leadership Freak. YOu can read his bio and contact info at: http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/ajay-gupta
General Mission observations–
a. keep it simple, 25 words or less….or less!!
b. overlap it with Vision (the big kahuna, the ideal state)-symbiosis r us!
c. should answer why you are here, what you bring to the table
d. overlap it with Values (how we walk, what we wear, why we do it)-mutuality r us!
e. consider evolving it each year…at least review it, it is not a static state once verbalized immediately and consistently implemented. It needs nurturing and tending. (Peter Sellers in Being There–great film)
f. leaders must walk, talk, breathe, listen and dream it (along with Vision)
g. front lines walk it, can talk it and help to evolve it…if leaders are listening and truly leading. (And BELIEVE that they are part of crafting it, FEEL ownership in it and KNOW, without them there is no mission.)
–Others posting here today identified that the mission is, optimally, free-flowing, both directions (no backwash allowed 😉 ). When there is blockage, we all suffer as it is not something easily roto rootered!
h. customers will tell you if you are doing a thru g honestly…if you are listening..and asking.
Response to the 3 questions:
1. Can you repeat from memory your company’s mission or vision statements?
I know my part of the pond’s VMV, the rest of the pond is in process. Waiting is….
2. When was the last time you publicly articulated statements from your VMV?
Personal/professional VMV can be found somewhere here at LF, natch!
3. If you burned the VMV statements would anyone care? Would anything change?
At my vocation, since the larger VMV are in process, your question is a great marker for future reference. Pesonally, yep, I’d care, others around me would care…and wonder.
Doc,
You’re laying out a whole series of comments and ideas that each deserve attention. Thanks for a meaty comment.
And of course, thanks for the potty humor… haha. Oh my, Why didn’t I think of Roto Rooter when I did the alphabet for leaders. Guess I had a blockage.
Best,
Dan
Doc is a featured contributor on Leadership Freak. You can read his bio and contact info at http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/doc
Great post–I think the not-for-profit world is light-years ahead of corporate for-profit on this!
I love the KUBA (stolen from a Canadian consulting company, whose name escapes me right now). In order to make the VMV ‘real’ employees have to Know, Understand, Believe, and Act. If we do anything, we tend to stop at the ‘Know’–inform them of the statements’ existence and expect them to ‘Act’. We rarely get to Understand (I like to get teams together to identify how the VMV will impact their priorities, how they approach their jobs, etc.). When we shelf things, employees don’t ‘believe’ and then in the end they certainly don’t ‘act’ on the VMV. When’s the last time you saw an organization identify specific behaviors that align to the VMV? It starts with behaviors! And that’s where my rant comes in–get this stuff out of the clouds and get specific about behaviors! Whew, I feel better!
Susan,
Kaboom! Thanks so much for challenging us with a great comment. My leadership team meets tomorrow and I’m asking, “What behaviors best exemplify our VMV?”
Nothing like a good does of reality to help find traction!
Best,
Dan
AMEN!!! Susan
What tips can you offer for both crafting and communicating VMV?
Besides the word “Leadership,” Vision and Mission are possibly the most misunderstood words in the business lexicon. From a systems thinking perspective the differences are:
VISION – What an organization wants to become in the FUTURE.
MISSION – What an organization does NOW.
Here are the requirements of a good Mission Statement (MS):
1. A MS should contain a formulation of the organization’s ideals and do so in a way that makes possible evaluation of progress towards them.
2. A MS should define the business that the organization wants to be in, not necessarily what it is in.
3. An organization’s mission should be unique, not suitable for any other organization.
4. A MS should be relevant to all of the organization’s stakeholders by stating its function relative to each type.
5. A MS should be exciting, challenging, and inspiring.
Here is your challenge, read your organization’s mission statement and test it against these five requirements. If it does not meet ALL five requirements, your mission statement is nothing more than tautologies or pious platitudes.
Wish I had 1/10 of all the money organizations spend on developing their so called Mission Statements.
BTW, this test comes from Russell Ackoff’s book, “Re-Creating the Corporation – A Design of Organizations in the 21st Century.” Highly recommended.
Jim,
I’m still reeling from your rich comment.
The trouble with a comment like yours is it’s hard to weasel out from under it’s specificity.
I do wonder about the value of a public vision or mission statement that is short and memorable that is bolstered by less memorable but meatier truths.
Thanks for all you share with others.
Best,
Dan
Jim is a featured contributor on Leadership Freak. You can read his bio and contact info at http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/james-leemann
Thanks to all for the posts so far…and yet to come. This blog set is going to be an excellent reference point and resource. Props to Dan and the LF Community…very energizing.
So Dan, where are the VMV’s posted/etched in electrons for the LF Community???? I know we have ‘helping leaders reach higher in 300 words or less’ and we have lots of perceptions of the rest…
Doc,
Great question. For me personally, the LF experiment, which is less than a year old, was an attempt to extend my reach to help others reach higher…. to encourage folks.
But that doesn’t really address your question does it?
I love the conversation and feel this blog succeeds the more people share their insights and ideas. I don’t value the idea of an expert who offers the final word while everyone sits wide eyed and mouth gaping open at their wisdom. I prefer to create a venue that both challenges and encourages and stimulates… I’m just rattling on….
Thanks for bringing it up.
Your comment is consistent with another who asked, so where is your bio! 🙂
We’re building the airplane in the air.
Cheers,
Dan
Hi Dan arguably one of the best posts thus far. At our organization all department meetings as well as division and finally Board meetings all begin with reiteration of our VMV. The managers meeting chaired by our COO does the same as well. Our mission is “what we do” Our values dictate “how we do it, our behaviors,” and our Vision is the all important “Why” we do it and “What” we aspire to become. I agree with Doc that this post is one to save and keep. There are just too many pearls of wisdom here. Furthermore I applaud your comment regarding the rationale and purpose behind the LF Community. The rich content observed from so many different perspectives is truly breath taking! “Every person is my teacher and we are all perpetual students.” Let’s let the dialogue continue as I see it and learned throughout the years there are never any truly wrong or right answers just different settings wherein we need to choose the “best shoe that fits at the moment.” regards, Al
Dan,
Let me share with you a perspective on the value of WMV.
Take a look at:
http://www.sc.com.my/main.asp?pageid=221&menuid=189&newsid=&linkid=&type=
and
http://www.sidc.com.my/main.asp?pageid=283
The former is the Securities Commission of Malaysia!. They have only their Mission statement. When I discovered this last year, I made an enquiry with their corporate communications. He was dumbfounded and said, I should talk to HR. When I persisted, I was informed the double V nd V are not displayed on the website, but…something they are made aware. When I asked what it is, I got, “its for internal circulation”.
Now compare that with SIDC, the training arm of the SCM. The VMV are clearly profiled for public view. I even followed up with an e-mail to SIDC to find if the SCM does have it’s V&V. I wish I could upload the reply, here. More than a year has passed and nothing has changed.
Not you tell me what to make of this – This is the premier body, supposedly to champion good corporate governance. SIDC, on the other hand, boast of “Delivering Professional Excellence”. Sadly, they can’t even get their own “house” into appreciating the value of making VMV visibly sticky!.
If the “guru” of public listed companies does not set the tone in advocating the essence of VMV, what are the chances of convicing the leaders at SMEs, which make up 95% of registered business in the country!. I say, the true articulation of strategic imperatives in corporate Malaysia seems a long way from home.
Regards
Yuva
Great piece and I couldn’t agree more. On a whole, I think non-profits tend to have a better grasp on the mission than the private sector but both are very poor at articulating the vision and living the values on a day-to-day basis.
Ask board members what the VMV’s are and you are liking to get many different answers let alone what employees answers might be. Keeping the VMV’s short and simple not only makes it easier to communicate and to comprehend, but it also makes it much easier to align activities and processes to them. Great discussion!
To add some humor to the rant, a few years back there used to be an automatic Dilbert Mission Statement Generator (Scott Adams, our global mirror, sometimes distorted) and it may now be hidden away in the United Media web pages.
I found a couple of samples still floating around…too close to home???
“Our challenge is to assertively network economically sound methods of empowerment so that we may continually negotiate performance based infrastructures”
“We have committed to synergistically fashion high-quality products so that we may collaboratively provide access to inexpensive leadership skills in order to solve business problems”
Virtually all organizations could burn their VMV with no harm done. Either the VMV is utter BS that has no impact on the way anyone does anything (the most common state), or the VMV are built in to everything everyone does — they’d go on being practiced, even if burned.
A lot of very good points have been made among the comments already. I also agree with you Dan on the power of VMV – however, if and only if the chief executive lives the VMV, embodies it, and monitors it cascading throughout the executive team and beyond. A challenging responsibility for any ceo. You are always “on.” If successful, the organization is on fire with energy and inspiration. If not… whatever.