A Slight Change In Our Approach

Throughout our professional lives, Cindy and I had seen a wide range of values defined by the organizations we were part of. A few either had no clearly defined values to speak of or they just never referenced them. Others had a couple of values listed in a policy manual or on a bulletin board but did little to call attention to them or explain them in any more detail. A few, though, had thorough lists of values with explicitly written definitions for what each meant, but still did next to nothing to ensure team members exemplified those values. In one case, I remember the organizational values being referred to as their “DNA”. Folks were glorified for public behaviors that were in line with those values but no one was held accountable for actions directly opposed to them. Talk is cheap, especially when that talk is only tied to pomp and circumstance!

We had been delivering a keynote called “Building Buy-In Around a Clear Mission & Vision” for a few years at the time, detailing the importance of helping each team member understand how their daily behaviors tie directly to the organization’s mission and vision statements. Seeing how Craig & Kim provided that same kind of clarity - for everyone in their newly acquired company - for each of their core values prompted us to begin researching how clear values provide a strong foundation for any business and produce measurable increases in overall profitability.

In addition to digging into any article we could find on the topic, we began working through the idea with several other business owners involved in our Executive Leadership Elite Think Tank. We had been very intentional about only inviting folks to participate in the group who we had seen live out similar values to our own and who were focused on developing the leadership culture within their organizations. Each of them had clearly stated values in place for their companies, but what we quickly realized was that nearly all of them had opportunities for making those values a bigger part of routine conversations with their teams.

Just like our message about the difference we can make by detailing how any particular task impacts our organization’s mission or vision, providing specificity around the behaviors that are in line with and contradicting our values is critical. Even when we have an amazing group of team members, we can’t assume everyone is on the same page - so we’ll pick up there next time.