Leadership and values, the most important thing?

Awhile back I started a series of posts under the title Leadership: destination, people, journey, and arriving. So far I have written about the destination (defining, getting and communicating vision), the next stage is the journey.

In any journey you first have a destination, otherwise you are going nowhere. Next is the process of the journey, "How you want to get there?". This is where values fit into the picture. In his book, "Purpose Driven Youth Ministry", Doug Fields says, "values reveal what is important to your ministry (or organisation)". Values essentially give you the benchmark to test the means and methods you are using to get to your destination.
Most people would agree that values are important but I believe they are the missing organisational link in the trinity of mission, vision and values. If not altogether missing then at the least the poor second cousin of mission and vision. Why do I say this? Every organisation has values, whether they are written down or not. However generally these values are meaningless because:
They aren't Real - are they actually values or just objectives or non-value statements?
They are rarely Repeated - are your values explained, communicated, discussed or taught?
They are never Reviewed - is the organisation measuring what it does against how it says it wants to do things?

Real values
In the first instance are the values that the organisation holds something tangible that you can describe and see in the real world - e.g. friendship or teamwork. Very often organisations produce complicated, long winded statements or just use vision or mission orientated words and phrases as value statements.
Some good examples of values (that are clear and understandable) are City Church, Revelation Church and Boeing

Repeated values
Like vision, values should be kept in front of the organisation and not just locked in a document or website.
If values tell us what is important to us and speak of our ethos then we should be talking, communicating, educating, sharing these values widely and regularly. At this point the phrase "values are caught not taught" would usually be stated and it certainly has a ring of truth to it and values can be seen and therefore caught. But if catching is the only method for getting values then is it like catching a virus? When you come into the presence of the value holder and you pick up what you see and percieve then you become a similar value holder. But if values are only caught then like a virus mutation may occur. We need to teach and communicate clearly what our values are, what they mean and what they look like. This should happen in many different ways acting as a plumbline to test what we are 'catching' from one another.

Reviewed values
So we have some real values, we are repeating these values regularly. How will we know if we are really doing what we say is important?
We could ask some questions which would objectively see if we are doing what we say is important. Again in Doug Field's book he shares how they did this in his youthwork, so for their value of acceptance they had the following questions they would ask of themselves to review how they were doing in this area.

If you have a set of values how do you know if anyone, even yourself, is following these values? Do you do some form of objective review or do you just say to people "these values are core to who we are" so you must be following them.

So I guess we need to ask yourself how important are our values? How are values held in your organisation? What are your experiences, good or bad? I would love to hear your feedback on this - in fact I would really value them ;-).

The best of 2011?

Just for fun I thought I would list my most popular posts, in terms of pageviews, in 2011. They were in reverse order:

5. I join the smartphone crowd (341 pageviews)
4. Book reading update (559 pageviews)3. I can do that (188 pageviews)2. Communicating Vision (631 pageviews)1. Admin Lessons - Planning (947 pageviews)

What has been your favourite post on finger in all the pies? I would love to know what has been memorable to you.

Communicating Vision

Before we look at communication let me ask the question, have you got a vision? Is it a destination that you can actually reach or have you actually got a mission statement which is your organisations reason for existence?

Assuming you have a vision there is an important process to go through before you start to communicate it. This process could potentially save you both time and increase the effectiveness of your communication immeasureably - find out if your vision makes sense!

How do you ensure your vision make sense?
Doesn't it already make sense? Remember it makes complete sense to you, you being the person or the team that has carried, crafted and lived it for days, weeks maybe even years.
But do you really want people who hear this vision for the first time to have to ask questions like "when you say X what do you mean?"

Hand your vision statement over to some people who have not been part of the process, these people should meet the following criteria - be good with words, include men and women, cover a range of ages and people types i.e. not just similar people to the leader(s). Give over the documentation you have produced so far and ask them simply "does this make sense, do you have any questions?" then sit back and look to take on board this important feedback.

Concise or long winded?
Your vision can be just two or three words (famously Canon photocopiers was "kill Xerox") or it could cover many specific areas with several goals. However, your vision needs to be memorable and if it is a set of goals using an overarching title or vehicle for your vision will help people to remember it. A good example of a wide ranging vision being encompassed in a memorable way is Kings Arms Church, Bedford who have used the numbers 1 to 5 to connect their goals to their 5 year vision.

How do you communicate?
Simple answer - by every means possible until everyone knows the vision or you have achieved it! In communicating vision there are two key aspects to consider:
1. What are the questions you need to answer?
2. Consider the methods you need to use to really communicate with people

The questions - there are three main questions people will have - Why, How, What

Why have you\we gone for this vision? If the vision is a natural extension of the past or normal for your type of organisation this why question may just cover issues around the scope of the vision. Questions that ask why so high\low\long\short\small\big etc.
If it is a major departure from where you are at now it will be necessary to demonstrate where the faith is in this new vision.

How will we get there? Again the smaller and simpler the vision the less of these questions will come.
Going for a grand vision way beyond where you are now requires more confidence in the steps to get there and if these are outlined then people can gain confidence and accept the vision more readily.

What does it mean for us\me? In the back of everybodies mind whenever a rousing speech or vision is set out there is a little voice that says, "So What?", or in other words, "What does this mean for me?".
This often will be thought of in terms of remuneration of some sought but also in terms of how will I be involved in this. The vision will paint a picture of a wonderful future but what part will I play in helping make this happen? Do I have a part? How will I be involved? All sorts of questions like this will be asked. Maybe even some cynical ones like "We've heard this all before.".

The Methods
Nothing beats "hearing from the horse's mouth", so the leader of the organisation needs to stand up and clearly layout the vision for the organisation answering the Why, How and What questions.

Beyond this initial communication you need to account for people who aren't there to hear, people who process in different ways, and people who need to hear something several times to fully understand and take on board the vision (this last group is somewhere between 99-100% of the population!).

Having the vision and what it means for us written down in various forms will enable people to pick it up and process it at their own pace.

Repeating the vision is another key method to use. However, remember you can always have too much of a good thing! When the vision is launched it is appropriate to repeat the core of the vision at every opportunity.

Encouraging people to discuss and feedback to the leadership can be helpful. Doing this inevitably will bring up ideas and views that are significantly different to the leadership and the vision. Ignoring these views and people is the wrong thing to do. There will always be actions and strategies that we wouldn't do or follow but, we will still follow leaders if we feel our opinions are heard and respected. Ignoring the views and ideas of people can lead to the situation where people feel that they might as well just ignore your vision. They will certainly not put effort into achieving it and possibly will just leave.


In summary:

• Make sure your vision makes sense
• Make it memorable
• Consider the questions people have
• Use all the available methods and encourage discussion and interaction

Getting your Vision – What’s on the front of your bus?

Leadership is about achieving a vision. So you need a vision, how do you get one?

The leader and leaders of any organisation should have a vision. If they haven’t or the current vision has been achieved or needs to be changed then a new vision needs to be set.

As I said in my previous post looking at the definition of mission, vision, values and goals – vision should answer the question “Where are we going?”

As you seek to answer this question you need to consider the following:

1. How far ahead are we looking?

2. How long will you spend getting the vision

3. What resources will you put into getting the vision (eg retreats)

4. What will the vision look like, its nature?
Numerical – to be a church of X by Year Y
Qualitative – to be a people and place where the love of God is found
Reputational – to be known as the people and place where God can be found
Each of these types should still be measureable

In looking at these questions and the general question of where you want to get to it is worth bringing into this process as many people who can help shape it and add real value to it.

Occasionally, there will a very clear and specific direction that the main leader feels is the answer and the organisation will follow after that. However, in these cases there should still be a seeking after wisdom from the whole body of leadership and not the potentially dangerous reliance on one person’s personal vision.

Understanding the difference between Vision, Mission, Values & Goals

On my previous leadership post I said if leadership is about anything then it's about achieving a vision. But what do we mean by vision, and what about mission, values and goals?

I think it may be helpful to define what is normally meant by these terms.

Mission (you can also use the word Purpose)
Dictionary definition – a person’s vocation, his mission in life
Mission answers the question “Why do we exist?”

Vision
Dictionary definition – something seen in the imagination or in a dream
Should answer the question “Where are we going?”
A vision statement must have a destination otherwise it is just a purpose\mission statement.

Values
The way we do things here – culture, ethos – our distinctiveness
What we believe in shapes our values, our values shape our behaviour.

Goals
These should annual plans that help you move towards your vision in bite-sized chunks
They should be achieveable but challenging.
You could have annual, 2-3 year or 5-10 year goals, it all depends on the long term nature of your vision.

Leadership: destination, people, journey, and arriving

If leadership is about anything then it's about achieving a vision. Whether that vision is...
... winning the championship or avoiding relegation
... growing a business or organisation
... putting on a successful event or trip

So looking at the journey a leader takes in achieving a vision it seems there are four aspects, the four parts of leadership over any given time. Destination, People, Journey, and Arriving.

The Destination - This is all about where you are going, your vision. If you don't have one are you really leading? Is it clear, do people understand it?

The People - Someone who claims to be a leader, yet has no one following them is just taking a walk. So if you are a leader you will have people with you. How do you include them in your leadership? How do you inspire the keen ones and not at the same time disenfranchise the cautious ones?

The Journey - Very few leadership journeys are really easy and mishap free. Much like life there are ups and downs and often it is the downs that test and shape leaders the most. How do you handle the problems? How do we - leaders and the organisation as a whole - learn from our mistakes?

Arriving - At the end of our journey we arrive at our destination. This can be a time for reflection, resetting and relaunching or maybe retirement.

Over the next few weeks I will put a bit more meat on these four bones of leadership. I would love to know your comments on this overall view and my thoughts on each aspect as I share them.


Personal note:
I don't claim to be a guru on leadership but over the years I have experienced and worked with great leaders, read and studied on aspects of leadership and I hope gained some experience and understanding myself.