most mission statements on corporate websites are meaningless marketing fluff.
How many of you know your company’s mission statement or the core values of the company where you work?
How many of you implement those values every day?
All of this begins with defining your core values – standards – code of ethics, and then breaking it down to a simple criteria … and ensuring your recruitment and training and on-going training is reflecting those core values.
As your company gets bigger … the harder it is to ensure the entire team has the same values, therefore, it is absolutely vital that the “leadership” layers in the company have them, but more importantly are leading the teams with those values.
How many of you can relate to this…
There is an employee in your company (somehow this person got through HR and has been hired or promoted)
The person shows a spark of promise … could potentially be great, but he or she is just not a perfect fit to your team…
however, you think to yourself that you can “change them” and get the person to believe in the same values as you…
I see leaders/managers too often fall in the trap of compromising their principles, and allow 2nd or 3rd chances ….
Hiring someone or promoting someone who is just not a perfect fit … thinking that maybe we can change them…
Or a top talent in the company who sometimes shows sparks of brilliance …. Is late to work too often, a bit sloppy…
or maybe gets sick on a Friday every so often well – and the leadership tolerates the inconsistency because the employee has “potential.”
But the world is full of people who should be and could be, but aren’t….
From my experience, I can’t remember one time when compromising our core values to accommodate a talented employee … in the long run working out.
In fact, I can name many many examples of massive failure because of we didn’t stick to our values.
Another question….
How many times have you either recruited or promoted someone just because of “their experience.”
The person has “the experience…” but not necessarily the same values to the rest of the team.
Based on my experience… this compromise comes with a massive cost when they don’t have or believe in the same values …
How often have you compromised your core values – or the company’s core values in the hope that the employee changes and fulfills the expectations you have?
Sometimes – leaders are too optimistic when it comes to judging character – we look too much into the good in people…
What is the cost for compromising your core values …
Let’s say for example, you have a strong core team made up of people who have your values, and are working cohesively, making things happen.
But you bring onto the team a new member who is just a bit different …they have “experience…” but not necessarily the same values as the rest of the team.
Your perfect cohesive team becomes distracted and potentially that one or two employees who dont have the same values will bring the bunch down.
It’s not about the glory of one individual…
It’s about the entire company working together; living the core values of the company – not just leaving them on the “about us” section on the corporate website.