Core Values: An essential part of core ideology or not?

The most misunderstood, misguided and misrepresented part of an organization’s core ideology is often the core values. These values, which often give lip service to such things as: “We respect each other as equals,” “We seek diversity and diverse points of view,” etc. rarely manifest themselves within the organization they are written for. Why? For one, exactly because they are “written for” an organization and not with the input of the employees but, equally important, it’s because the management team is not equipped with the tools, the coaching and the know-how to help all members of the organization live these values day in and day out.

Why do core values matter anyway? If they permeate an organization, core values can help with recruiting employees, retaining employees, attracting and retaining new customers and creating customer loyalty. It’s impossible to ignore the importance of these values. It must be said that every company HAS core values — they just may not be the ones the senior leadership team created!

There is no better example of a company living it’s core values than Starbucks.  For anyone, facilitator or leader, attempting to create a set of core values and infuse them into the organization, I recommend reading the little book called  How Starbucks Saved My Life, by Michael Gates Gill.  This book provides a rare glimpse into a company that is actually living it’s values. I was amazed (and I think you will be to!) at how successfully Starbucks has created a culture of respect for each other, listening, and attention to the customer by bringing their core values to life in each and every store.

So, how does a facilitator or company/organization leader help leadership teams live their core values?  Here’s a short list of tips I have learned along the way:

1) Gather input from the organization. Use an anonymous survey tool to find out where things are really at and how far away you are from the values you would like your organization to embody.

2) For each of the values, determine how committed the leadership team is to actually “living” that value day in and day out. Articulate what it means to “live” the value.  Set aside those values that not everyone is willing to commit to.

3) Articulate what the organization will look like when all the values are being actively “lived” by all in the organization. Create a vivid description using picture and words to communicate your vision to the organization

4) Create and implement a communications plan so that every single person within the organization knows how they should live each of the values and what that means for their everyday interactions with co-workers, leadership and customers.

5) Set up a consistent reward and staffing structure.  Reward ALL employees based on how effectively they convey the organization’s values. Hire only those people whose own values are congruent with the organizations.

This little book, How Starbucks Saved My Life, is a powerful depiction of the impact an organizations values can have on both the success of the overall entity and, even more importantly, the happiness of the employees who are out on the line serving customers.

Click on this link to see the core values of another successful company:  Zappos

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/21/news/companies/obrien_zappos10.fortune/index.htm

Cindy Diamond

IGNiTE . . . fueling creativity and innovation

Facilitating Team Building in a Time of Uncertainty

Most of today’s organizations function in a team setting. These may be cross functional or functional internal teams, client service teams made from internal and external service providers, or other member compositions.  Stability is an essential component to the success of these teams. Why? Because teams go through many stages before they become high performing — namely:  forming, storming, norming and finally, performing.  Stabilty makes teams more efficient and effective at doing their jobs.

In today’s recessionary, lay-off laden environment, stability is simply not a reality. Does this mean organizations are going to suffer from less efficient and less effective teams? Most likely. Now, more than ever, organizational leadership must prioritize team building amongst it’s highest goals or risk suffering an even greater setback from the loss of team members and the environment of uncertainty we are in.

Why team building? Because trust has suffered a great blow in organizations and this hinders cooperation amongst teams that have been newly formed or have lost or changed members. Organized team building sessions, with the assistance and direction of an objective, outside facilitator,  helps team members build trust with each other. Specific trust building activities, such as sharing personal histories, viewingthe situation from each others perspectives and understanding motivations leads to an increase in cooperation, admiration, and, ultimately, trust. Once this trust has been established, teams can develop shared goals based on the passions of individual team members.  Cooperative, trusting team members will then be able to work together to meet the team goals and help each other embrace their passions and contribute their best to the team.

Teams that spend a lot of time “forming” and/or “storming” typically don’t move the needle on accomplishments as quickly as teams that are high performing. The essential difference between these stages is trust and, as a by product, cooperation and shared goals.  The relatively small investment of time and money it takes to bring in a facilitator and set aside a few days a quarter for team building will pay back multiple times in the efficiency realized by teams that work well together and have developed a team perspective on where they want to go and how to get there. And, after all, in the end it’s all about the people!

Cindy Diamond, Founder and CEO

IGNiTE, facilitating strategy and innovation

Developing a Vision for Your Organization: A Great Team Building Experience

building-your-companys-vision-overview-of-key-concepts3 (link to a Powerpoint presentation)

Of all the workshops and ideations sessions I facilitate,  I believe the best team building experiences are created through my vision workshops. Both new and existing teams benefit immensely from this experience. The most essential piece for the success of the workshop is the participation of senior leadership. If the senior leaders and present and are openly and honestly seeking the input of the team these sessions are wonderful bonding experiences for all involved.

I based my vision workshops off of the the HBR article on vision written by James Collins and Jerry Porras titled “Building Your Company’s Vision.”   They introduce the idea that vision is made up of “core ideology” and an ”envisioned future.” When developing “core ideology,” which consists of core values and core purpose, it’s essential that the group that does the actual work in the organization has input into the ideology. Core values must reflect the values of the people who come to do the work every day; if they do not, the values are irrelevant! The core purpose articulates the reason the organization exists. The people  who come to work at your organization everyday should have a passion for doing that work. 

The “envisioned future,” which consists of a BIG goal and a vivid description of that goal help the group paint a picture of what the future looks like. It creates alignment within the group and has everyone marching toward the same goal.  Simply put, if you don’t know where you’re going, it doesn’t matter how you get there! The envisioned future gets everyone onto the same path so that efforts are synergystic and effective in moving the organization forward.

 I have attached a short Powerpoint presentation that summarizes the key concepts from the HBR article. I have added some additional examples for non-profits. I have found this way of thinking about vision to be just as effective for non-profit organizations as it is for corporations.

Please feel free to send any questions!

Cindy Diamond

President and CEO Diamond Marketing Solutions / IGNiTE

A strategy, innovation and creativity consulting firm

10 Reasons to Hold Retreats to Build Your Business

I read this article on the Brandchannel.com website at http://www.brandchannel.com/brand_speak.asp?bs_id=197 and thought it was worth sharing with others interested in facilitation as well as with corporate teams seeking to conduct multi-day meetings to achieve a specific objective. While this article specifies “marketing teams,” most of the ideas are applicable to any team. The article text is included in full underneath my comments. Team retreats, much like those discussed in the Leoncini book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, can be a real boost to productivity and team building. While team building is typically a secondary objective, it often becomes the biggest catalyst for increased productivity and success. Retreats are unique in that they allow teams to take time to thoroughly discuss ideas, to come to mutual understanding by seeing issues from others points of view and because they allow the facilitator enough time to work with team members on trust building. Trust is the foundation upon which high performing teams are built. Without it, team members spend an abundance of time and energy on political games and competitive maneuvering instead of seeking cooperation and maximizing team synergy.   Another benefit of the retreat is really getting out of the mindset of the corporate day-to-day world and giving team members the time and space to think creatively and to envision the future. A skilled facilitator will structure this time so that it is somewhat less structured than the typical corporate meetings yet structured enough to provide multiple ways into the creative tasks allowing creativity to flow naturally for participants. I thought this article was a good reminder of why and when it’s important to get out of the corporate meeting room and spend some time in a more relaxed environment working, creating, ideating and playing with your team members.   — Cindy Diamond, Diamond Marketing Solutions & Ignite   Ten Reasons to Hold Marketing Retreats to Build Your Business and Your Brand by James S. Twerdahl July 14, 2008 issue Management retreats can be a very powerful tool for effecting change in organizations and brands. They do need careful planning and thoughtful and experienced facilitation, but properly done they can really help take your brand or organization to the next level. They are particularly important for those who are responsible for creating, building and maintaining brands. Here are the principle reasons to consider a marketing retreat for your organization.

 

1.   To reaffirm your company and product brands and overall strategic direction. Markets served by virtually all organizations are changing at an incredible pace. While mission and vision statements and the overall positioning of your brand should be designed for the long-term, it is critical that they periodically be reviewed and reaffirmed. Changes in technology, competitive activity, the world economy and any number of other factors can necessitate change in your brand positioning. At the very least, the near term strategic direction must be reviewed and adjusted to account for the changing reality. And, there are still a great many companies who have not formally set forth their brand positioning statements—a retreat is an ideal time to do so.  2.   To unify management. Even the best management teams can lose focus on overall goals as individual managers work in their respective areas. Retreats can be a good way of re-unifying the team and making sure that everyone is embracing the same overall objectives, goals, and brand engagement strategies. Retreats are also an ideal way of integrating new managers with older team members. Both in formal meetings and at breaks, meals and recreation times, participants can get to know one another much better and form bonds that are tough to forge when involved in day-to-day operations.  3.   To solve disputes and mediate tensions. Tensions and disputes arise in all organizations. Rather than letting them fester and become destructive and counterproductive, open discussions in non-threatening retreats, can be a good way of letting people share points of view and resolve conflicts.  4.   To identify issues. In the daily heat of battle, issues that have not been resolved often come up. Issues that cross departmental lines can remain unresolved because it takes unified actions to attack them. In a well managed retreat, issues can be identified, analysis can begin, and initiatives or action plans set to resolve them.  5.   To brainstorm and be creative. Away from the fray of day-to-day activities without phones ringing and e-mails to be answered, it may be possible to foster higher levels of creativity. Group creativity sessions can be highly synergistic as one person plays off of another’s idea.  6.   To develop new products and programs. In addition to brainstorming for new products and programs, healthy discussion about new directions can take place and plans laid. Because new products and programs typically involve actions from many departments, retreats can be a good way of outlining the plans and assigning responsibility, setting overall timetables, establishing budgets and other activities from the “big picture” perspective.  7.   To face and resolve crises. Even the best brands may periodically have to deal with crises of one kind or another. Typically when a crisis occurs, there are several hurried meetings to try and deal with the immediate situation. It is often helpful to get away from the immediate issues to assess the situation overall and make sure the organization is realigned not only to deal with the issue but not have it impact future growth and development of the brand.  8.   To provide management training. A key part of many retreats is on-going management training either from internal resources or from outside speakers brought in to address specific topics. Many retreats have themes and in keeping with the theme, speakers can discuss industry best practices, new trends or other areas to improve managers’ effectiveness individually and as members of the team. Retreats are also excellent ways of orienting new leaders in their new roles in the organization.  9.   To reward and recognize outstanding efforts. An important element in many retreats should be to recognize those team members who have really made great contributions. Discussing their successes and accomplishments, if done properly, can help motivate others and build a sense of team. Clearly the accomplishments praised have to be ones that contribute to the team overall, but acknowledging someone who has helped the team can really encourage others to do so as well.  10.   To build consensus. If done well, the first nine points should all be helping to build consensus and a unified sense of where the brand is going. This last point is highlighted as a summary because often organizational leaders may meet resistance in fostering change. Even though a leader can exert their organizational authority, it is often much more important to “sell people” than to “tell people.” Retreats can often be used to expose all sides of an issue and allow the team to reach the best possible conclusions. When reached as a group with everyone buying-in, the likelihood of success can be much greater than if the direction is dictated. Brands are organic and continue to evolve and change over time. Constant monitoring and reassessment are necessary to optimize the long-term returns from your brand.

James S. Twerdahl is the managing director of James S. Twerdahl & Associates.

Facilitating Teams through Vision Development

In the past couple of months, IGNiTE has facilitated a number of workshops to help corporate and non-profit teams develop their vision. We have developed a very effective process for working on vision based on the Harvard Business Review article titled: “Building Your Company’s Vision” by James Collins and Jerry Porras. Collins, by the way, is the author of Good to Great. 

In the HBR article, the authors construct a model for vision consisting of two arms, the first is termed “Core Ideology” and the second is termed “Envisioned Future.” The core ideology gets to the organization’s core purpose and core values, while the envisioned future articulates the organization’s Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) -  a goal 5-10 years out, along with a  vivid description of what the future state looks like when the BHAG is accomplished.

At Ignite, our facilitation process provides time for individuals and teams to ponder, discuss and debate what it is they truly value and why they exist. These are the essential core elements of the business or organization and they must come from within. They are enduring qualities that never change.  We help teams build their core purpose from the bottom up — first articulating what it is they do and then looking at WHY they do those things. After a number of “why do you do that” questions, elements of the core purpose emerge and a light bulb goes off.

The majority of the organizations we have worked with are fearful when it comes to creating their BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). It’s a scary prospect to articulate a big goal for the future, even one you’d like to achieve, when you feel you don’t have the resources today to get it done.  To work through this hesitation, we have team members create a vivid description of what the future looks like when the company or organization is operating at its best, looking 5 to 10 years down the road. Collage works well for this but other visualization techniques work too. Once the themes have been collected from the visualizations, it’s easier to pinpoint the BHAG that, if the organization achieves it, the envisioned future will be a reality.

The elements described in “Building Your Company’s Vision” are essential to every organization — be it a Fortune 500 company or a small non-profit.  WIthout clarity on who you are and where you are headed, you are operating with blinders on.  A facilitated process works particularly well with vision development as it ensures all team members have the opportunity to voice their individual vision, creates structure and process, and helps bring the team along so steady progress is made. 

— submitted by Cindy Diamond, Principal of Diamond Marketing Solutions & IGNiTE