Key points
Values & vision
Values are the beliefs of an organisation, the expression of what it stands for and how it will conduct itself both internally and to customers and stakeholders. Values are vital because they underpin objectives, practices and strategies. Values also shape the competencies and behaviours people and managers are expected to demonstrate. Ultimately, people should feel passionately about the values of the organisation and motivated to put them into practice in their everyday work. For this to happen, new recruits and those already in the organisation need to believe in and share the values.
A vision helps unite people towards a purpose. It is a statement about what you want the organisation to be in the future – not necessarily a prediction, but rather an aspiration or aim. One leading corporate states that a successful vision accomplishes six goals:
- Gives a sense of the future
- Guides decision making and strategy
- Creates a shared purpose
- Provides guidelines that determine behaviour
- Inspires emotion
- Connects to values.
Developing and using a vision effectively requires 3 stages:
- Gathering views from across the organisation on what the vision of the organisation should be
- Deciding, from the range of views collected, what the agreed vision of the organisation will be
- Communicating this vision throughout the organisation on an ongoing basis, through internal channels such as meetings and newsletters, but also through the objectives and strategies the organisation develops.
Neither vision nor values need necessarily be publicised outside the organisation – the key thing is that they are communicated within it through teams, and that top managers act as role models for them in their behaviour and communications.
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