Almost every company or organization starts out with big dreams and bold goals. Enthusiastic about their new opportunity, the founders set down their mission, vision and values. They might put this in the business plan, on their About Us page, and use it to entice investors or market to customers.<\/p>\n
Then, as it always does, change happens. Those pillar tenets that seemed so perfect at the outset, may need to evolve. This article shares strategies to ensure you revisit mission, vision and values with care and make any changes conscientiously.<\/p>\n
First, a primer on how we\u2019re using the terms values, mission, and vision. As we\u2019ve written in the past<\/a>:<\/p>\n But, why would those change? Let\u2019s examine that next.<\/p>\n Organizations see employees come and go, products launch and retire, initiatives begin and end. Yet, mission, vision and values are so fundamental that they aren\u2019t\u2014usually at least\u2014responsive to employee engagement surveys or customer feedback. Still, these foundations to strategy and culture can and do evolve.<\/p>\n Key reasons include the following:<\/p>\n Having determined your current mission statement doesn\u2019t quite suit you any longer, you\u2019ll want to proceed strategically.<\/p>\n First, get your stakeholders on board<\/strong>. You can\u2019t have just one person decide to change the company values or mission statement and expect everyone else to toe the line. Realigning your core company beliefs will have an impact at all levels of the organization. It can influence company culture.<\/p>\n Ensure that you have buy-in at the top levels and that they agree with the new approach. As with most change management initiatives, it can also help to get support from stakeholders across departments or different levels to smooth the transition.<\/p>\n Second, communicate the change transparently<\/strong>. A credit union that changes its mission statement without telling any of its members might make this healthy re-evaluation of the mission look shady. It\u2019s a better idea to publicize the change in mission statement, telling internal and external stakeholders what prompted the evolution and how decision makers reached this mission.<\/p>\n Treat this is an opportunity to reach out to employees and customers and try to excite them again about your organization and all that it means to them.<\/p>\n Generally, when it comes to organizational values, your core values will remain constant. Aspirational values<\/a>, the ones that you need to support a new strategy or changing market, can be carefully altered or added. But don\u2019t let them dilute the values that serve as your cultural cornerstones.<\/p>\n When changing values, it can help to recognize people who embrace the new purpose<\/strong>. This provides an opportunity for storytelling, which can help make an abstract concept more concrete. John Coleman, author of the Harvard Business Review\u2019s Guide to Crafting Your Purpose<\/a> suggests interviewing clients and employees to find people to highlight. You might also prepare short videos of either of these stakeholders celebrating an employee living the values.<\/p>\n As we will discuss in more detail later in this three-part series, being fickle with your values or mission can undermine customer trust. Authenticity is critical<\/a>. If people believe you are simply stating a vision or mission to suit the current climate, you may lose their respect.<\/p>\n If employees, who have been treating the old mission, vision, and values as a guiding star, feel like you\u2019re pandering to the latest whims when you make a change, you could also risk their loyalty. You might rue the decision when you next review your employee retention rates<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
Common reasons for significant culture shifts<\/h2>\n
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Key steps in evolving your mission<\/h2>\n
Getting your guiding principles right<\/h2>\n