Week 3 – HOW Expectations
Lesson 10 Three Building Blocks to Identify What Matters
Often mission statements, vision statements, and values are considered something we have “to do.” They then end up on a wall. When done right these tools can be useful to clarify how and why an organisation/people focus where they do.
The mission statement communicates the purpose of the organisation.
The vision statement provides insight into what the organisation hopes to achieve or become in the future.
The values statement reflects the organisation's core principles and ethics.
One way to understand it, is to think about the metaphor of climbing a mountain. The vision is our expectation of what the view will look like when we reach the top of the mountain. Our purpose is the motivation that gets us out of bed every morning to keep climbing. Values help us determine which pathway we will take to get to the top.
Purpose combined with Values (the things that are important to us) provides inspiration. Vision plus values determine the actions we take both tasks and behaviours to help strategically align the organisation to what is important.
Watch the video of a roundabout in Hanoi. Whilst it looks chaotic everyone gets around safely. In an organisational context Mission, Vision and Values provide a framework for everyone to work by. How they do it is up to their own unique approach. When thinking about an individual’s strengths, there are 100s if not 1000s of talents, grouped into 34 strengths themes. Because of the variety of and combination of strengths i.e., the chances of someone getting the same 5 strengths as you is 1 in 33 million. Therefore it is important that as a manager we provide a structure focus on delegating outcomes not tasks.
Optional Activity For more on this topic, watch Simon Sinek’s TED Talk “Start with Why”
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