Strategic Planning
Articles
“The Value of Values: Boundaries for Traveling the Road to Success,”
America’s Byways Resource Center;
Vistas, September/October 2004
Strategic Planning: The Value of Values
Most organizations have a mission statement. Certainly, many organizations are formed around a mission even before a formal structure is developed. This is a broad statement of the purpose of the organization and what is exists to do.
Some groups regularly take time to describe a vision for the future - an image of what the world will be like as they accomplish goals. This image can inspire people to join the effort to make the vision a reality.
It is quite common for groups to set goals and make action plans to solve specific problems or complete projects. Goals are the milestones we expect to reach at a set point along a timeline. They are measurable and easy to describe in reports.
Values are something quite different. It’s a word we hear and use often, especially when people are trying to demonstrate what they have in common or where their differences are. More than simple list of words or phrases, values describe how we expect to travel to where we want to go.
Values are the frame within which an organization operates. Values determine what goals are set, what opportunities are taken and which are declined. They influence the organizational culture, how work is done and who works there. Organizations and the people who work in them hold dozens, even hundreds, of values. The frame is made up of a few, usually four to six, strongly held and unwavering core values.
Organizations do not have to explicitly identify values to operate or to be successful. Indeed, if the leaders of an organization do not intend to uphold a particular set of values or hold their followers accountable to them, it may be better not to explore that territory. Once identified, however, core values can become a powerful bonding force for organization members. Values can give them direction and test their commitment to a mission. If named and ignored, however, they can become the seeds for cynicism.
Identifying values need not be an exercise in crafting careful statements to post on the wall or print on letterhead. Strongly held core values permeate the culture of an organization and inspire members to stay on the path. Individuals who don’t hold the same values will quickly become uncomfortable and are likely to find a fast exit.
Story #1: How Values Can Go Wrong
One organization grabbed onto the idea of listing core values as a way to demonstrate to the outside world the worthiness of their mission. The members spent several daylong meetings working through a process of identifying what they valued about their work and the communities they hoped to impact. The leaders of the organization were fully invested in the process even though many of the members were not. A breakdown came when, after several months of work, the group tentatively agreed to a short list of core values that were intended to steer not only the current group, but anyone who would take their places for decades to come.
The group members turned to the leaders and asked, “Are these the values you will uphold yourselves, hold us accountable to in all the decisions we make and the work we do, and pass on to the leaders who come after you?” The leaders, after a glance at each other and a telling pause replied, “We can’t make this decision. Let’s assign a committee to finalize the list.”
That’s what happened, values by committee, rather than by leaders who would work to instill them in the culture and pass them on to their successors. Now, years later, the story is still told within the organization with a strong note of sarcasm. The original leaders have long moved on to different organizations. The remaining members and new leaders made no investment in the list of values the group worked so hard to identify. Although most of the group members involved in the process is also long gone, those who remain tell the story, ending with the lesson that values are little more than an expensive waste of time and energy.
Story #2: How Values Can Provide a Common Direction
A small agency with less than ten members had a transition in leadership and began thinking and talking in a completely different way. Now, regular items on meeting agendas reflected the organization’s core purpose, such as how excellent work would be done. The strategic plan was reworked to more intentionally serve the agency mission and reflect the core values.
The new leaders continuously and consistently articulated the organization’s vision for change and the core values that would keep them on course, which included the agency becoming an energizing and effective work environment. They gave members freedom to make that a reality and gradually it became so. This group didn’t actually write a list of values or a detailed vision statement, but everyone spoke with the same pictures in mind and toward the same goals. They spoke the values out loud, even declared them publicly, and those values influenced individual and group behavior toward consistency.
Early on there were people who joined the agency staff and board who did not hold the values for fit into the developing culture. The leaders did not adjust the values or culture for those folks. The pathway had been identified and the values embedded. Those who did not fit were invited to find their own way and they chose to leave the group. Tellingly, after years of staff turnover rates nearing 75 percent under previous management, the key members remain nearly unchanged several years later.
As is true for any agency or company, the values held by this organization are neither right nor wrong: they’re just not for everyone. When values are clearly stated and strongly held, they support the decisions and actions that fit and make it very uncomfortable for those that don’t.
Story #3: One Organization Tests Its Values
Early in its creation, one organization spent time and energy to identify the common values they would uphold as they set priorities and made decisions. This group was a collaborative of many agencies that submitted a joint recommendation to a government body for a significant part of their funding. Each agency had a clear stake in how the recommendations were prioritized and who was at the top of the list to potentially receive funding. The individual agencies, staff-member jobs and the services to clients could either benefit or be at risk, depending on the recommendation.
Over several years the process became increasingly competitive and contentious between the members. It became clear that working together to make a recommendation supported by all would eventually become impossible. Realizing the potential loss to the community was too large to ignore, they sought help to get themselves back on track and working cooperatively. In a single meeting, the group members went through a simple process of reviewing their organization’s stated values, re-committed to them, and were able to set aside the positions of individual agencies and give support to the interests and mission of the collaborative organization.
The core values provided them the boundaries against which they could check their decisions and the goals they set for the future. Even though some agencies would lose funding, they all supported their common value to prioritize most-needed services.
Where Do These Stories Take Us on the Byway Road?
Over the past months, leaders of the National Scenic Byways Program asked staff members to participate in a process of identifying core values that guide our decisions, relationships and work culture. After a few discussions, feedback sessions, and sifting out what is core and long lasting from general ideas, a short list was passed back for the leaders to consider. These are the boundaries we work within, and upon which we premise policies actions. They’re sort of like guardrails that keep us on the road toward our desired destination. We might zig and zag from side to side, stop and check the map or even change vehicles on occasion, but how we do our work and the decisions we make will be consistent with our values.
You will see the impact of theses values in the next round of byway nomination and the resulting designation decisions. You will notice the influence on the content and structure of our conferences and training sessions. Byway leaders, group members and State scenic byway coordinators will feel some gentle pressure form theses values in the guidance and coaching from the America’s Byways Resource Center, the National Scenic Byways Online team and the Federal Highway Administration.
It is very clear that the values we identified are not new to the program. They have been present all along. Simply put, program leaders have uncovered and articulated them and committed to hold them as guiding principles for all staff members.
These values will keep us on the road tour intended vision. We will hold them up beside the opportunities we encounter and decisions we must make. With values strongly instilled and passed onto new team members over the years, we’ll all stay on track in working toward our mission and shared vision.
The Value of Values
Naming core values as a kind of group exercise has been somewhat trendy in recent years and we ca take some key lessons from the stories above. To avoid cynicism, core values must be identified and upheld by leaders. The values don’t have to be written or posted to have a positive impact; they have to be lived. When values are shared, they keep an organization and its members on an intended path and working toward common goals.
Perhaps you byway group is exploring core values. Consider carefully the lessons of the stories from other organizations…if you go forward, be authentic and be bold. It’s an empowering journey.
