In the first two parts of this series of articles we explored the importance of having a mission statement (which provides the organization with a clear meaning and purpose), a vision statement (which provides personnel direction in the form of a mental picture of what the organization wants to achieve at some point in the future) and pointed out that the vision and mission statements need to be more than something just hanging on the walls of the office, printed in the organization’s literature, and talked about in new employee orientation.
For a mission statement to become a mission and for a vision statement to become a vision, it has to be implanted in the hearts of the organization’s employees and decisions must be made on the basis of whether the decision is consistent with the mission and will help the organization achieve its vision.
Since a vision statement is not a vision until there is buy-in from the organization’s employees, we also provided some methods of gaining buy-in from employees.
In part 3, we focused on another essential ingredient in the process of building or reshaping organizational culture – core values. Core values are the principles, beliefs and philosophy by which the organization operates. In that column, we also provided a process for identifying and/or creating organizational values.
This month we will wrap up our discussion on values by focusing on instilling them in the organization.