Dear Nancy,
You recently wrote that you are interested in the values of an
organization and that you believe that these values drive
everything. I can't agree with you more. You stated that you
need assistance, but you didn't state what kind of assistance you
need - determining the values of your organization or getting
employee input? - so I might have made some assumptions here in
my lengthy response.
The process that I use and recommend for determining the value
of your organization is through VISIONING. A lot of people are
surprised by this, because visioning sounds like it relates to
something in the future, but ironically, I use visioning to
determine the values of today.
Visioning enables your organization to 'realize' what the future
would look like for your facility, if they were proactive rather
than reactive, so it enables you to expand your values to the
point of realization, causing you to see them more clearly in your
present. For example, if my family and I were to check our
savings account we would realize that money goes out based upon
need. Our job is to keep money in the account until some outside
factor forces us to spend. In the reactive mode we just throw
money where there is a request. In this situation we have
'values', but they haven't been realized and we are not managing
by them.
Let's say my family went through a 'visioning' process where we
determined where we want to be by the year 2002. We decided that
we need a larger house and instead of traditional (like the one we
have now), we want ultra modern. In essence, what we are saying
is that we no longer value the 'traditional' and now value the
'modern'...but without a vision we would continue to purchase
things in the traditional motif..because of many reasons, 1) we
always have done it that way, 2) we know how to do it, 3) we
didn't realize the extent that our values have grown and more
importantly 'changed', 4) it worked in the past, it was safe. The
problem is now that we are STUCK in the past and the world is
changing around us. We are old, uninspiring, boring and not
really happy. [Take no offense all Traditional buffs, I am happy
with a very traditional house..this is just an example.]
So, it is time to replace the sofa in the livingroom. Without
the vision we might just go out and find a similar sofa,
traditional in nature, that fits with the rest of the decor..but
now with a vision of the 'modern' decor, we will now decide to
purchase using our > real instead of > perceived value
system...and may decide to keep the scruffy sofa a couple more
years and just throw an inexpensive cover over it, until we can
afford the whole mondern living room suite. We have begun to make
decisions and manage to our values.
In another senario...lets say that I usually wait and take my two
weeks vacation when my work load drops..hence, I seldom go
anywhere on vacation and end up spending the time at home
repairing or working around the house. By the end of the year I
complain about not having had a real vacation. But had I
'envisioned' a vacation and captured what I truly 'value' in a
vacation, I could then plan for it. So I see myself on the sunny
beaches of Cancun in about ten months. When some buddies want to
take a week off to go hunting and fishing, I decline because I
know that this trip is not getting me closer to my vision. For my
birthday I ask for some swim wear..instead of new tools (to fix
things around the house). When I have a few dollars to blow
(ha)...I apply it torward a plane ticket instead of buying
something I really don't need. My vision has led me to make
'value' decisions in the present. This is why I said that
visioning is about my values today and not my dreams of the
future.
I recently took the Senior Staff at the facility where I work,
through the 'visioning' process. They were surprised that
visioning is more that thinking about the future and each of the
seven members were surprised at how similar their visions were to
each others and equally surprised how their own vision placed
value in area's they had never considered. There is a big
difference between THINKING about the future (we all do that to
some degree) and actually SEEING the future.
After they completed the visioning process I pointed out to them
what their values are based on what they saw in the ideal
future...for example, they saw "a lot of meeting rooms" - the
value is in good communication. They saw "open, airy, common
offices" (no walls, no plush offices, no cubicles) - the value was
in teamwork, not in status. They saw "photographs of employees in
the lobby along with rewards we had received" - the value is in
proof of our accomplishments and not in empty promises to our
Customers.
Now that we have a vision..we can pull from that vision our
'values' and communicate them to the rest of the facility.
When you said that you believe that 'values' drive everything in
the organization, I agree with you. Look what can be done with
only the three values listed above [good communication, teamwork,
proof of performance]: we can now develop questions for applicants
that cover these values and hire accordingly. We can also make
better decisions today...for example, when someone puts in a
request to 'build another office' it will get rejected because we
value "open, airy, non-status".
I have a lot of ideas on how to go through the visioning process,
how to 'lead to the future' instead of 'manage the past', how to
sell the vision, develop a mission statement from the vision, test
the vision with customers, communicate the vision, design job
descriptions and hiring practices to the vision, deploy policy
through the vision, align performance feedback to the vision and
make break-through changes to the vision, if you are interested.
I just wanted to share this portion with you to see if I am on
the same track or way out in left field.
Thanks for the airtime!
Rick Corcoran
Continuous Improvement Manager
Excel Industries
Mark I
Internet:"corcoranre@excelinc.com"