Refresh your company’s vision this spring
Every organization needs a mission, a vision, and values to function properly. In turn, the environment around us changes constantly – forcing these fundamentals to change as well. As leaders, it’s our duty to refresh our mission, vision, and values when uncontrollable elements shift our environment.
In a recent Harvard Business Review article, John Coleman discusses how the pandemic has created a “new normal” for organizations, leaving space for organizational fundamentals to become outdated in the process.
Coleman begins the article with a discussion on the mindset shift of employees – including an emerging focus on health, flexibility, diversity, equity, and individual purpose. The pandemic has given people a clear understanding of transformation, both big and small, and how it can affect one’s overall outlook on work, relationships, and life.
Therefore, organizational leaders need to gain perspectives of all involved in the company to get a full understanding of shifting one’s mission, vision, and values. How do we do that? Simply by asking and making the conversation an open forum for all.
In the article, Coleman gives examples of questions to ask employees while completing this process, including:
- Mission: What is the core purpose of our collective work together? Why do we exist and do what we do?
- Vision: What are we hoping to achieve together?
- Values: What core principles will guide the way we work together as colleagues and for our clients?
One more question to be sure to ask your employees is: “What’s changed?” Considering the past two years have uncovered many changes, this question will surface important insights about your organization’s underlying shifts in both culture and focus.
To conclude, Coleman gives tips to engage employees when asking these questions, such as: engaging the organization comprehensively, listening extensively and authentically, visibly “launching” the new statements, and recognizing those who live out the company’s new mission, vision, and values. In doing so, you’ll be able to successfully unveil a new and refreshing organizational purpose in which everyone is on board.
When it comes to NAFCU…
Our mission is to Strengthen Credit Unions
Our values are member driven, passion and excellence.
Our vision is to create a legislative, regulatory, and business environment where credit unions can continue to grow, and in turn, serve their 130 million members as well as Main Street America.
The time is now to spark that change in your organization. Work isn’t supposed to be static, it’s supposed to be fluid and exciting.