Defining corporate vision and values

Defining corporate vision and values

Q: Has anyone done any work on defining corporate vision and values? If so, do you have any tips?

A: Christopher Hannegan
I'd suggest you start by interviewing those employees on the front line or those actually 'touching' the customer. You'll start to uncover common themes, reasons for working there, and insight into how to connect to them emotionally as well as rationally. In my experience, the vision and values have got to "bubble up" from the employee level and then be supported by senior management. By taking this approach, you can base your vision and values on ideas that are truly relevant, rather than just based on headquarters' thinking.

A: Judy Jones
The process needs both 'top' and 'bottom' participation. Consider that our most critical themes these days are senior management accountability and transparency in business conduct (trust), and where does our business fit in today's economy as we face armed conflict?

Clearly, both front line employees and leadership are necessary to the success of the process. If possible, the communication function needs to work closely with the organizational development function to support the internal dialogue. Interviews alone – no matter how inclusive – tend to feel isolated. Then the communicator pools the results and teases out the common themes and overlapping beliefs, but no matter how insightful and accurate the communicator is, the audience – management and employees – can feel like they're experiencing the effect of a "black box". The results are no longer their own and they don't buy in. In my experience, it's better to bring people together in facilitated discussion with the explicit aim to articulate a mission. Let the fights happen in the room with a professional facilitator. The communicator supports the process through documentation, excellent writing skills and a true ear for the broad audience – both internal and external.

Once you have final output, you'll need to turn your attention to the art of distribution and delivery. I use the word 'art' on purpose. The communicator needs to effectively support the managers, supervisors and whoever communicates directly with employees. The media isn't important, whatever works for your culture is what you use. But the communicator needs to be 'invisible' or the rollout will appear contrived, which means that the mission and values are contrived.

Here's a final tip: storyboard or write a narrative of the ideal process from beginning to end. In this way, you'll be able to effectively visualize and convey where all this 'soft stuff' is going. By pointing to your storyboard or narrative, you'll know where you are and your organizational development professional will love it. Management will thank you too.