Values as Strategy: Getting Clear on Leadership
You might find what I’m about to say a bit unusual—hear me out.
I’ve come to see an organization’s values as its strategy.
With values, I know where I stand—or where I don’t want to stand, and why.
In working with hundreds of leaders of all types over the years, most focus on setting strategic directions, BHAGs and powerful missions and pithy vision statements—and of course, these are important. But they often glaze over when it comes time for the values.
A Strong Start
When getting to know a new client (along with the financials), I look at values statements first.
It’s an organization’s values statements that tell me most about what I’m going to find once I get inside and come to hear the stories and get to know the leaders.
Are they generic-sounding or bespoke? Do they go on for ages, or have they been subjected to the rigour of editing and focus?
If they described a person, what’s their character and constitution made of and would I feel like I know and understand them deeply?
Values statements are an organization’s ethical model.
They reflect the shared beliefs, attitudes and principles that guide acceptable behaviours and shape relationships within an organization’s culture. This is why they hold so much power for me.
Putting Your Values to Work
Leaders who realize that their organization’s values essentially are their real strategy have an edge.
First, they know values need to be carefully built from the ground up. And, they should be done with input from everyone that cares about the collective success.
The values then become very particular to the organization. They both position and differentiate.
They are not just any ethical model. They are our ethical model.
And, we are fully committed to them because we built them together.
They are who we are, how we will act, and to what we will hold ourselves accountable.
Improving Efficiency with Impactful Value Strategies
Values like these don’t just outlast any one set of strategies, they act as bedrock, touchstone, and as a steward when a crisis occurs or hard choices or course correction is needed.
I’ve come to believe that it doesn’t much matter what your strategy is if the people who are going to do the work of executing haven’t had a hand in shaping and expressing their most foundational, shared tenants—their values. Without this, the strategy can’t ever be fully realized, or it won’t withstand the many tests it will surely face.
So, if you show me your values, how much of your strategy will I see?
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