Casting a Vision, Built on Our Values

To sustain the effort required by our high expectations, accountability must be built into our culture - at all levels. But detailing what our team members need to do and how that needs to happen is only part of that process. Even the most ingrained habits supporting the simplest behaviors can still be incredibly tough to stick with when stuff hits the proverbial fan. Our best shot at providing our team members with the inspiration they need for consistently choosing the harder right over the easier wrong won’t come from understanding exactly what our core values mean or precisely how they should be modeling those values in their daily routine, this will require us to help them see exactly why living out each value matters every single day. We’ll need to become experts at casting a vision that’s built on our values.

I opened Leading With A Clear Purpose, by stressing just how daunting leadership can be without having a very specific reason - a clear purpose, if you will - for accepting the challenges of leading rather than simply going through the motions in a normal job. The second half of the book built on that idea, challenging leaders to provide that same type of clear purpose for each of their team members. Not only does that help each of us fight off the increasingly prevalent risk of burnout, a clear and definite purpose can be the driving force that earns the 57% increase in discretionary effort I referenced multiple times in that book and almost constantly throughout What’s KILLING Your Profitability?...

For even the best team members, or leaders for that matter, to consistently put in the effort necessary to exemplify our core values, connecting what those values mean and how we each display them in practice, casting a vision that details how achieving our organizational purpose is achieved and who we impact in the process truly serves as that critical why - for our team members and for ourselves!

In 2017, a friend provided the opening keynote for an event Cindy and I hosted. He shared a message detailing the legacy his late wife built for their family through her battle with breast cancer. Thankfully, only a select few in the audience could relate to what he and his children experienced, but he was very intentional about tying that message back to challenging everyone to identify the legacy they wanted to leave. When we paint a picture of the clear purpose our organization is working to achieve in a way that everyone on our team can connect with it, we’ll have the foundation for creating a legacy that’s built on our core company values. Make no mistake though, this should never be focused solely on reaching our own goals or reaching the company’s objectives; this should also be geared at helping everyone involved win - so we’ll wrap up with that next time.