Do your Mission, Vision, Values and Behaviours still support your business goals?

Our ‘Ignite your Business’ series outlines a set of tasks for business leaders who want to ignite the growth of their businesses.

Because while the current economic headwinds are obvious, we see this time as an opportunity to reset, restate and refocus for growth.

And we firmly believe that the business leaders who will continue to increase the value of their businesses will be those that focus on the areas that add most value to the business, take time to understand finance, face the challenge head on, and seize opportunities when they arise.

Task 1: Review and update your management information (MI)Task 2: Identify and review your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)Task 3: Move to real-time bookkeepingTask 4: Update your cashflow forecast and act on itTask 5 is to update (or define) your Mission, Vision, Values and Behaviours…

When was the last time you reviewed your Mission, Vision, Values and Behaviours?

In our recent work with our SME clients, something has become abundantly clear: those businesses with a well-defined mission and vision – with values and behaviours that align to that higher purpose – perform at a significantly higher level than others.

And yet in some businesses, Mission, Vision, Values and Behaviours are still seen as superfluous fluff.

In our view, nothing could be further from the truth.

Recently, the world of work has changed at a dramatic rate, so here’s the key question:

As a business owner or director, when was the last time you updated your company’s mission and vision – and checked that your values and behaviours are still aligned with this higher purpose?

If your answer is “A while ago” or perhaps even “Never”, then now’s the time to act!

What are Mission and Vision and why do they matter?

Your ‘Mission’ and ‘Vision’ are strategic statements. They should provide focus and purpose to everyone involved with your company: employees, directors, shareholders and customers.

Your purpose will determine whether employees will work for you, and whether customers will work with you. So it’s essential that you have a clear Mission and Vision around which your employees and customers can align.

Mission

Your mission statement is your underlying reason for being in business, your deep-rooted purpose.

It is why you exist and why you do what you do. It is the North Star around which you build your business’s culture.

Your mission statement should provide a clear focus to your Directors, Managers, employees and often, customers. It should outline the type of work you do, the clients you serve and the level of service you provide to them.

Vision

Your vision is where you want to be – and what you want to be – in the future. Your vision statement outlines what you’re aiming to achieve as a company. It should be clear and memorable and communicate the journey you are on as a business.

Your vision should provide a benchmark for your progress and guide your day-to-day activities. It should be aspirational but also actionable, realistic, and achievable and not an unrealistic, abstract illusion of the future.

What are Values and Behaviours and why do they matter?

There is an indisputable link between culture and business performance. Crucially, you cannot simply dictate what you want your culture to be. Your culture is a function of your employees’ behaviours in the workplace over time.

How your business achieves its Mission and Vision will be driven by your ability to articulate your values, and then get everybody in your company to embody these values in their everyday work and behaviours.

Values

Your values outline what you believe in and should drive how your employees behave. They identify how you will honour your mission and vision statements and should offer a unique description of the sort of business you are.

Your values are a ‘moral code’, a behavioural compass, a set of rules that guide your ways of working. They are the core principles that guide the way employees work with their colleagues and with clients.

Your values should be memorable, distinct, and meaningful. They should signpost the standards of behaviour to which everyone will be held accountable in the business. They should make it easy for everyone in your company to know what behaviours are desirable, what behaviours will be tolerated, and what behaviours will not.

Behaviours

Behaviours are your values in action.

They are how your people act and behave at work. They are the decisions and actions your employees take throughout the organisation when interacting with colleagues and customers.

Fundamentally, behaviours should align with your stated values. Sometimes companies will be very clear about the expected behaviours that are consistent with each value, but in truth, the specific behaviours your people use should not need to be spelled out if the values are clear.

As a leader in your business, you should decide how you and your leadership team will exemplify and embody the behaviours they want to see and then do it!

You should decide the behaviours you will tolerate and those you will not. You should identify how you will personally embody the right behaviours, and how you will police and reward the desired behaviours.

Fundamentally, behaviours spread by imitation and by the sharing of best practice stories and case studies.You should:

• Determine the principal behaviours that will enable you to differentiate your company from competitors, attract the best talent, build trust, and increase your company value.

• Collect the stories and case studies that best illustrate your values in action.

• Design a process to ensure your chosen behaviours align with your desired culture.

• Recognise the behaviours you will tolerate and those you will not, how you will personally embody the right behaviours, and how you will police and reward the desired behaviours.

Above all, having a clear strategy with an aligned culture will enable you to differentiate yourself from competitors, build trust, attract talent, gain new clients and to have a workforce that is focused and reenergised.

Free Benchmark Tool: Find out if your strategy and culture still supports your growth ambitions…

Do your Mission, Vision, Values and Behaviours still support your growth ambitions?

Find out using this free benchmark tool designed by The Uncommon Practice. Answer 30 simple questions (in about 10 minutes) and receive a personalised plan of action.