Motivating
Your Team with Mission and Values
Takeaways
“One of
the most important things any leader at any level in the organization can do is
to be a personal role model. It doesn’t do any good if you have a set of values
you want practiced but you, as a leader, are behaving differently. That’s the
end of that game.“ Jack Welch
Living and Breathing Your Mission
What it Means
All too
often, a mission statement is just a plaque on the wall. Your mission must come
to life through your actions every day. Great leaders constantly inspire and
guide their team’s behaviors. They understand that the mission defines how they
will win in their business and that it is only valuable if it is understood and
practiced by everyone.
Why it Matters
·
Your
people won’t live and breathe your mission if you don’t.
·
It
inspires better performance by rallying the team around a common vision of success.
·
It
provides clear targets and vivid direction.
·
It
allows a “behavior = reward” evaluation model that removes ambiguity about who
is doing a good job and why.
·
It
focuses activity and energy to make sure that everyone is working on the tasks
that take the company forward.
·
“Busy
work” gets quickly identified and removed in companies that align values and
actions with the mission every day.
Action Plan
Living and Breathing Your Mission
As a
leader, you have to do two things with the mission and values of your
organization:
·
Live
it yourself and set an example—every day
·
Reward
team members who are living the values you set through their behaviors.
Ultimately,
when you talk about every behavior you want practiced in your company, you are
talking about its values.
Your Starting Point
One of your
critical roles as a leader is to create and sustain the passion, energy, and
reward structure for achieving the goals that your organization and your team
have set. Ask yourself:
1.
How
frequently do I communicate the mission to my team?
2.
When
I speak about the mission, do I do so in ways that provide clear, vivid
examples of how actions can support it and drive the organization forward?
3.
What
can I do as a leader to make sure that living and breathing the mission is
central to everything my team does
every day?
4.
Do
our values align with our mission? How do I assess my team’s values (or behaviors)
in achieving our mission?
5.
When
I see somebody on my team demonstrating the values of the organization, do I
praise that person and make specific reference to the values they are
demonstrating?
6.
Do
the reward systems that I have put in place reinforce the behaviors I am trying
to drive?
Quick Wins in Motivating Your Team
with Mission and Values
Bringing
the mission to life is one of the most challenging, but necessary keys to
winning. If your team isn’t living the mission, then it becomes nothing more
than nice words on a piece of paper.
If you aren’t leading by example, commit today
to identify ways you can immediately demonstrate your organization’s values and
make the vision come alive through your daily activities. The steps below cost nothing
and require almost no planning, but they will send the message that you lead by
example.
·
Make
sure the mission provides clear targets and vivid direction
·
Identify
examples in your own behavior every day that demonstrate the values you seek.
·
Talk
about the mission and values. Yes, that’s right, just open your mouth and start
talking about them all the time. Use them as part of your daily conversation.
Use them throughout team meetings. Use them when your department is struggling
with a decision on a product, process, or whether to go after a new market.
·
Acknowledge
when you see others living the mission and demonstrating the values. And do so explicitly.
Don’t just say, “Hey, you’re doing a great job.” Say, “I loved the way you
reduced delivery time by 20%, because that helps us achieve our mission of . .
. and demonstrates our value of finding new efficiencies.”
·
Cut
through the jargon. Speak plainly, specifically and focus on behaviors.
Rewarding the Mission and Values
In any
organization, as Jack Welch observes: “You get the behaviors you reward.” The
main point is to make sure that your team understand that their evaluations
will be directly linked to how well their behaviors demonstrate a commitment to
the vision and values of the organization. Your team must know what you expect
and how their success will be measured. Just like the clarity and specificity
required in setting mission and vision, that same clarity must be in place for
evaluating the execution of it.
“Show me a company’s various
compensation plans, and I’ll show you how its people behave.” Chuck Ames, the
former chairman and CEO of Reliance Electric
·
Make
sure the vision provides clear targets and vivid direction.
·
Establish
an evaluation plan that measures success in terms of achieving the mission and
demonstrating the values.
·
Remove
ambiguity—everyone must know what choices they need to make and what priorities
they should set to advance the mission.
·
Reward
those who live the values.
The Generosity Gene
Great
leaders delight in rewarding their people and giving praise and credit where
it’s due. Leaders who have the generosity gene live nothing more than promoting
the top performers on their team sand being able to negotiate raises and bonuses
for those who are living the values of the company and performing at the top of
their game.
Game Pages
Motivating Your Team with Mission
and Values
Bringing your
mission to life doesn’t happen overnight. If it’s going to truly be a part of
your company’s DNA, it must be:
·
Well
defined and actionable
·
Reinforced
by the words and actions of the team leader
·
Integrated
into the evaluation and compensation systems
When it
is, your team will know what choices they should make, what priorities they
should set and what behaviors are expected (and rewarded).
Your Starting Point
Mission and Values
By
I helped our company achieve its
mission of
When I
I demonstrated the value of
Today I identified
_________________________ specific examples of situations where my team members
were living the mission and I acknowledged these by
To show my team how serious I am
about living the mission, I
When I saw you doing
I was impressed by how that will
help us
Reward
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