Most organisations have their vision, mission and values clarified, documented and shown for all to see.
They are most often shown in that order too – vision, mission and values.
The reason for most corporate mistakes and for most staff leaving is values breaches.
I believe the causes of the values breaches are simply fear habits and ignorance – see my blog on the purpose of values.
Because values are the drivers of our best intentions and efforts, there is often disconnection between the values and the setting of the vision and mission.
A recent example of this was illuminated by Isabelle Roughol, an editor at LinkedIn, in her article about Uber’s privacy scandal.
Their mission is to succeed in their vision at all costs – which appears to include breaching their values.
Getting clear on the importance of values is a crucial leadership function.
Our values are our “rules of the game” that we don’t ever want broken. People join companies whose values resonate with theirs.
I believe therefore that the values come first.
Then vision and mission and certainly goals can express the values.
If that doesn’t occur, values breaches may be built into the vision and the mission and the goals, as well as how they are executed.
That will jeopardise sustainable success as Enron and others have experienced.
Existing companies with vision, mission and values already determined could review their values and then re-align their vision and mission accordingly.
I suggest that those adjustments won’t be onerous.
What do you think?
