Strong Mission & Concrete Values

I read "Winning" by Jack Welch a year or so ago. The first section of the book talks about 4 things:

1) Mission & Values
2) Candor
3) Differentiation
4) Voice & Dignity

I plan to address all four areas in some degree or another, but for now I want to address "Mission & Values" The company I work for has been in business for a number of years. There is no mission statement, vision, values, or anything else modern businesses today espouse as their "guiding oracles". This is okay with me, as I don't necessarily believe a mission statement makes a business successful. I do, however, believe that a company and its employees need to know where they are going, and clearly understand the plans for how they will arrive at their destination (goals). Absent this information, people tend to lack vision, and work on what they feel is most important, not what actually might be most important and vital to the overall success of the company.

Experts often provide conflicting insights regarding the merits of mission statements. Some believe in them, others don't. Some say that in order to make the mission statement effective there has to be participation and buy-in from all levels of the organization. This would suggest assembling a cross-functional team and crafting the mission with broad employee representation from all levels. Jack Welch states in his book;

"Setting the mission is top management's responsibility. A mission cannot, and must not, be delegated to anyone except the people ultimately held accountable for it. In fact, a mission is the defining moment for a company's leadership."

Jack Welch makes clear that he believes the mission is the responsibility of leadership. Do his statements mean that he believes broad representation is not necessary, or even desired? I'm not sure. So what is the best format for building a mission statement? I don't know...and therein lies the problem.

About a year ago I was tasked to head up a team to "create the company's mission, vision, & values". I actually thought it would be a fun project to work on. I had previously worked for FranklinCovey, and so I had been inculcated into the "lore of mission statements" to some degree. I did some research, assembled some articles and other reference materials for the senior leadership team and went about trying to get the project underway.

Each time I attempted to garner enthusiasm and guidance from the leadership team (of which I am a part) for the project I was met with lukewarm (at best) indifference. Participation generally revolved around them wanting me to bring back the recommendations of the cross-functional team. I was able to get more than enough people to express interest in being on the team, which consisted of newer employees, well-tenured employees, and some in-between. I have no doubt that the team would have done an exceptional job at crafting a mission statement. A mission statement employees could have rallied around, something some could have at least used as a guidepost, and something that some could have memorized, and spouted off at the drop of a hat just for the illusion. After all, it is difficult to get everyone engaged in the vision of the vision...

So what's the problem? Leadership! Until the leadership of the company collectively feels that a mission/vision/values project is important, it won't be. It must start at top and cascade throughout the company. I simply lost the will to drive the project after feeling there was no support from my peers on the leadership team. Perhaps that is my short-coming for not pushing the project harder, or for not pinning them down. Perhaps I simply did not do a good enough job helping them understand the company needed their guidance and support first.

I've been thinking about that mission statement project of late, wondering what would happen if I proceeded with the original team, and simply completed the project without my the other members of the leadership team. After all, many political careers, initiatives, and business ideas start at the "grass roots" level. I wonder how it would turn out if I assembled the team, created something great, and allowed the team to push the accountability UP instead of having it flow down??? Could the mission, vision, and values provide the value coming from this team? Or could it possibly provide more credibility and value coming from this team? It is worth consideration. And I just might re-assemble that team to see what nuggets of gold can be sifted.

Human Interaction

Leave it to an "HR guy" to write his first blog on "human interaction" in the workplace. I know, I know, the proverbial "soft HR topic". Some observations:

1. There is…some dysfunction in the place where I work.
2. Much of the dysfunction stems from the following things:

• Lack of time?...let's say lack of taking the time to fully understand what others face.
• Lack of ability to confront the issues honestly, without defensiveness.
• Lack of accountability.
• Lack of human level interaction.

Time we'll address at another "time". Honesty, I'm not quite ready to tackle that one on my first post either. Accountability could be a treatise so let’s hold on that one as well.

Let's focus on human level interaction. Our employees work in different "quadrants" of the building, and for the most part, have little interaction with other departments aside from a monthly meeting, and the occasional other drive-by, or meeting encounter. This monthly meeting takes the form of managers providing as little information as possible so they "don't have to spend time with these people". Meanwhile, the employees complain about never receiving any pertinent information. Then, assumptions appear, assumptions about others; their motives, what resources they get versus what we get, who is really the most important department, are we a software company or a customer service company. It is all very comical, yet sad. I try not to get personally embroiled in this mess, but occasionally I do get singed by standing too close to the fire. I have many occasions that I get to speak with employees about the situation...and that I welcome even though I often feel like I am a great sounding board, but often cannot make the influence I would like (more on that later).

Socrates points out that one has to talk to people in terms of their own experience, that is, using carpenters metaphors when speaking to a carpenter, or accounting with an accountant. Recently, I had the chance to spend some quality work time with one of the software developers. Like many developers, he is bright, ambitious, and "gets it" when it comes to business. I appreciated the insights he gave me into some of the challenges he and his team face with the development process, and some of the cultural issues they face. I appreciated his candor. We discussed a number of issues that pertain to our business. We both want our company to be successful. We both have many ideas, not always conforming to the cultural norms of the company. Most of all, we're both just people who want to be able to suggest and implement good ideas, better understand how our co-workers function, think, and to better be able to leverage the business in positive ways. Sometimes you can learn much more from a casual conversation by listening and asking questions than you can from the plethora of meetings we face each day. I hope to be able to expand on my experience with others in a casual, real setting. That's where the good stuff in business really is...and the good ideas also, the ideas that sometimes turn into the “next big thing”.

Well, that’s my first post ever…I enjoyed this self-therapy.