Organizations are living and breathing things, not just an org chart hanging on a wall or an office full of desks. People drive the basic performance of an organization and help it or hinder it from operating at its highest potential. Do you have a business that is awash with energy and enthusiasm and exceeding objectives time after time? Or is your business being run by people that put in their hours and call it a day?
The difference between these two businesses has to do with many factors and at Sharper Counsel, we use a model we call “Commitment Culture” to describe various elements in an organization that have to do with people connecting to their jobs in exceptional ways to accomplish exceptional things. Through studying a business and how it employs elements of a Commitment Culture, barriers to high performance can be removed and the full power of the people in the business can be unleashed.
Sharper Counsel’s Commitment Culture model consists of four items:
MISSION – the same starting point as a Strategic Framework,
VISION — a discussion of the business beyond current realities,
VALUES — the look and feel of a business from a human perspective, and
CULTURE — the manifestation of MISSION, VISION and VALUES from day to day.
The MISSION is a key enabler to achieve high performance in that the people in the business need to understand and believe in the basic purpose of the organization. If you are running a lumber mill and your employees don’t believe in cutting down trees, you will struggle to achieve high performance. Most often, people self-select and choose to work in businesses where they appreciate the MISSION. But sometimes not, especially when jobs are hard to come by, and it’s worthwhile to ensure that your team knows the business MISSION and supports it.
The VISION of an organization is also a key enabler to high performance and talks more to what could be than what is. You may be running a lumber mill and if you aspire to become a leader in your industry through reducing carbon footprint, that speaks to goals that are larger than the current week or current quarter. Maybe you have ideas about being the most competitive lumber mill in a certain market segment so that good jobs can be retained in your community. That’s important information for people to have and helps them connect to the business and become more engaged in day to day activities.
The VALUES of an organization describe in large degree how a business conducts itself. How does the business behave in particular circumstances and what does it feel like to an employee inside the business? Describing the VALUES of the organization and ensuring that the team behaves according to them helps people understand what to do when situations arise. A solid set of VALUES help people align with the goals of the business as well as do their jobs independently with high confidence that they are doing the right things.
MISSION, VISION and VALUES all work in concert to build the CULTURE of the business. Defining and managing to a MISSION that makes sense, a VISION that is engaging and inspiring, and VALUES that present an attractive business personality creates a CULTURE that drives high performance.
A business will have a CULTURE in any event. If it is a result of evolution, unclear direction and random behaviors, the CULTURE may be holding a business from its highest potential. If the CULTURE is a deliberate design of business purpose, ultimate outcomes and supporting action, then the business may create a Commitment Culture that allows people to contribute to their utmost and the business to operate at its highest potential.
Sharper Counsel LLC is an executive short term assignment company dedicated to the improvement of high potential businesses. In short, we do BUSINESS TUNEUPS.
We provide management consulting to accomplish business and organization assessments. We specialize in business development and business process management and are one of the up and coming consulting firms in San Diego. Our team is always eager to help you improve your business, so…
Give us a call today at 800-280-2452 !