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So far in this series, we have explored the importance of creating a mission statement (which provides the organization with a clear meaning and purpose), developing 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 identifying the organizations’ core values (the principles, beliefs and philosophy by which the organization will operate).

We also pointed out that the vision, mission and core value 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. All three must be implanted in the hearts of the organization’s employees and the decisions being made must be made on the basis of whether the decision is consistent with the organization’s values, will help the organization accomplish its mission and enable it to achieve its vision.

With the vision, mission and core values as the foundation upon which the new culture will be built, the administrator needs to understand that changing an organization’s culture occurs in three ways:Hiring and keeping team members who buy-in to the organization’s mission and vision and share the organization’s core values.  In selecting employees, administrators must focus on doing more than screening for skills, knowledge and abilities required to do the job. They must also screen for organizational fit.  Employees who share the same values, and buy-in to the organization’s vision and mission and who feel valued as employees will help shape the organization’s culture by serving as examples to other employees.

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.

As noted in the title above this is the third part of a series of articles on building or reshaping organizational culture. In the first two parts, we discussed the importance of having a mission statement – which provides the organization with a clear meaning and purpose – and a vision statement – which provides

In the first two parts, we discussed the importance of having a mission statement – which provides the organization with a clear meaning and purpose – and 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.

We also pointed out that it is important that the vision statement must be more than just something that is on the walls of the office, in their organizational literature, and what they talk about in new employee orientation. For a vision statement to become a vision it has to be planted in the hearts of employees and decisions are made on the basis of whether what is decided will help the organization accomplish 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.

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.
This month we want to focus on another essential ingredient in the process of building or reshaping organizational culture – core values. The mission and vision will take you nowhere if they are not connected to the actual values of your organization. When the vision and mission connect with the core values, they can provide guidelines for the winning behaviors and mindsets necessary to achieve the goals. Core values are what support the vision, shape the culture and reflect what an organization values. They are the essence of the organization’s identity – the principles, beliefs or philosophy of values. Many executives make the mistake of only focusing on the technical competencies of employees and often fail to focus on the underlying competencies that make their organization perform well – core values.

In last month’s article we defined the term “organizational culture” and introduced the first step in building or reshaping organizational culture which was to establish a mission which defines the organization’s purpose and provides meaning to the work employees do.

A reader of last month’s column suggested that it would be helpful to see some examples of good mission statements. As you read the mission statements below ask yourself does the statement tell what the organization does, for whom it does it and what the impact of doing it is? Is it written succinctly so that any employee could recite it upon request?

Google: “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”

Amazon: “to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online”

At first glance, “to find” and “discover” might seem redundant. However, the language is purposeful because Amazon is hoping people might discover something that they were not looking for in the first place, but catches their interest while browsing.

Mel Brown and Associates: “to equip individuals and organizations to accomplish their visions, missions, and goals”

Every service Mel Brown and Associates provides (leadership development coaching, mentoring, training, organizational assessments, program evaluations, staff development, conducting management studies, contract monitoring, facilitation of processes for vision and mission development, policy and procedure development, and executive searches, strategic planning, etc.) is to equip our clients to accomplish their visions, missions and goals.

Within the last few months I have had a number of discussions with organizational executives in which the executive raised a question regarding vision and/or mission development, establishing core values, changing or creating an organizational culture, developing an effective employee performance appraisal system, enhancing employee accountability, or improving employee retention.

While the executives in each of these discussions was starting at a different focal point, in each conversation the executive’s overall focus was on how to improve the organizational environment to one in which employees were productively engaged in accomplishing the goals of the organization.

As a result of those discussions along with my observations during three recent projects in which we facilitated a vision and mission development process, conducted an organizational needs assessment and provided training on implementing an effective performance appraisal system, it occurred to me that it might be helpful to the readers of “Contemplation Corner” if I did a series of articles dealing with building or reshaping an organization’s culture.