STRATEGY oo amy Statement’ Dissect an inspiring vision statement, and you'll find all the elements that pull a company into the future. BY JAMES R. LUCAS ‘You're right,” John said. “It makes you want to..to.-laugh.” He looked at her seriously « t sure looks pretty,” John said as he and then exploded in laughter. turned to Susan and flashed a cynical Susan Jooked around. “John, stop. smile Someone will hear you. This is our vision state- “You mean it sounds pretty?" Susan ment, for heaven" sake,” asked, confused, “No, I mean it looks pretty” John James R. Lucas is president of Luman Consultants reached out and reverently placed his Shawnee Mission, Kan, and the author of “Fatal hand om the elegant plaque. “Sort of — Masons: Shreddinga Dozen Unreltes That Can Keep makes you want to..what? Kneel down?” Your Organization from Success” (AMACOM, 1997), Susan laughed nervously, “It doesn’t make His new book, “Balance of Power” (AMACON ‘me want to kneel down” out in March, isdue 22 AMERICAN MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL/ FEBRUARY 1998John flicked the plaque with his index fin- ger. “Vision? Really? I didn’t know. I thought it ‘was entertainment for visitors.” He shook his head and walked away. Susan studied the vision statement for afew minutes. She concluded that John was political ly incorrect—and right. Visions and Baloney We've got vison, but we cat see. That seems to be the stuation in many companies, We can ive without isin, although organizations do manage tocxtend thet death throes | Without a leary defined vision, ecceeee weld od eos cant ive withvision ether tonment and mimic competitors. atleast not with the concepts With high+concept” but hokey thatso ofen masqueredeasa | /MisfomlWfe ewe: ep in tiie Stine auido the atu ace__S0Up but with a dash of emicism. og mewisen somes nly hard-fought organiza make their readers feel as it tional soul-sweating they are drowning in warm duce a. viston that is ins maple syrup. Just listen to yithout being reality-impaired. some of these excerpts MANAGEMENT REVIEW / FEBRUARY 1998 23STRATEGY “We will exceed our customers’ expecta tions every day in every way (Best Products Co.) “Building on the base of our proud past, ‘we're now creating our own future.” (Austin Industries) “Giving our customers..wwhat they want all the time, every time, on time.” (Gerber) Reading enough corporate vision state ‘ments can lead a person to conclude that the {deal statement for many organivations would read something lke this: Weare a terrific or- sanization made up of terrific employees who provide our terrific customers with terrific ‘Products and services. God bless us everyone. Statements like these don’t do justice to a company’s cre values. Oris t that these state- ‘ments come into being because we don't have any core values to begin with? ‘And then there's the other side of the «coin, where we betray how crude our cote values really are: *..(Mlission is to deliver long-term growth in earnings per share and shareholder value” (Chaguita Brands). That’ it Its doubtful that people will ne up to sacrifice themselves to make such dreams come true. The Need for Vision Does a company really need vision anyway? ‘The interest in developing a corporate vision has faded of late, largely because the state- ‘ments do not inspite any change or growth, feel “real” or connect with most people's deep aspirations. In addition, the following factors have led managers to shy away from creating a vision: We don't want to admit how narcissistic our vision really is © We think it will be too much trouble to incorporate everyone in the process, and we already know what we want. © We don’t really have a vision because ‘we're just “doing business,” so we call what we don’t have “unnecessary.” ‘© We've built our organization on adver- sarial principles, so a common vision is not achievable ‘The fact is, every company does need a vi- sion ifit wants to go somewhere and be able to know when it has arrived. This need may seem less obvious in an autocratic organization, where people simply do as theyre told and have very little idea of where the company is headed. But even the autocrat needs a blueprint to fol- low while dictating the company into the fu- ture A unifying, clarifying vision is all the more important to the interdependent organization, in which the leaders expect their people to par- ticipate in the process of delivering (and, in the best of cases, helping to create) the vision. In my opinion, we need vision for a number of critical reasons: © To guide us. Like the stars that have guided sailors to their destinations and safe harbors for millennia, an articulated vision leads us from point to point on our organiza- tional journey. It also aligns our various priori- tes and goals and keeps us from fragmenting To remind us. The same organization that can remember one ofits mistakes for years can forget what it represents and wants to be- come in a matter of months. Like the Declaration of Independence, a vision should be something we can reflect on during the coming years to remember the important “whys © To inspire us. People, at least the sane ‘ones who havea life, are not inspired by work in and of tse. Rather, they are inspired by the pur- pose of work, the result of work and the tran- scendent priorities and goals its encompasses, # Tocontrol us. When we get the “crazies” and start wandering into unrelated businesses ‘or core incompetencies, our vision statement «an snap us back to reality © To free us. I's hard to have a forward- looking, high-performance organization when we don't know who we are or what we want to become. The events of our past push us along with their inertia, to a chorus of “this is the way we've always done it” in the past. liv= ing vision pulls us loose from that mire and ‘opens the door to afresh future. The Illusion of Vision Unfortunately, the visions of most organiza- tions don't serve them in these ways, In my ex- 24 AMERICAN MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL / FEBRUARY 1998When a vision statement amounts to fiction, it can actually lower the company’s morale and long-term effectiveness. perience, most employees are barely aware of their organization's vision. Much less do they understand, accept, believe in or buy into it In such companies, the corporate vision plays litle, ifany, role in guiding people's daily efforts. Instead, they squander that energy on “doing their jobs” playing organizational poli- tics, covering up their mistakes, fixing blame rather than problems and, in general, trying to stay out of trouble. It staggers the imagination to think of how effective individual organizations and the econ~ ‘omy would be if this vast expenditure of energy was directed toward truly useful and produc: tive tasks—such as anticipating and providing products and services that will meet people's real future needs. How do we know if our organizational vi sion is only an illusion? Here are some signs of such a crippling situation: ¢ Ie’ never brought up in strategy or plan ning sessions. ‘@ Employees who have been with us for ‘more than 30 days cant tell us what the vision ‘means to them personally—which is different from reciting it from memory—or how it = lates to their daily priorities. (© We “finish” the “vision thing” and move on to other projects or initiatives, forget that our vision is neither a project nor an ini- tiative. The absence of ongoing dialogue, em- ployee training and development of the vision areal clues that this is just an illusion. ‘© Our people tell usin an anonymous sur- vey (and we should conduct such a survey) that our vision statement sounds good but really is useless or meaningless. ‘When a vision statement amounts to fic- tion, it can actually lower the company’s morale and long-term effectiveness. How so? ‘The results are bound to be negative if we say that people are our most important resource, but treat them like they're our biggest pain in the neck. Ifwe say that employee safety is im- portant, but day aier day tel stories about em- ployees who take risks 10 meet deadlines, cus tomer needs, et. If we say we care forall of our stakeholders, but use downsizing, rightsizing, dumping and demanding to drive a stake through the heart of our human resources. If wwe say we're innovative and customer-focused, STRATEGY WHAT VISION IS ‘An organizational charter of core values and pringpes The headwater for our priorities, plans and goals Apuler (oot pusher) nwo the fare Wagar Vision ISNT ‘A determination and publication of “high concept” satement, a what makes us unique motto or literature ‘Aeclaration of interdependence An advertising slogan but lve in a zone-of indifference |ataemlin Pa and regularly decide “they can live Aew from the top gularly y with that ets tot pa as ‘A vision that is denied in day- to-day life, even in small ways, isa dead vision. Even worse it'sa vam~ pire that will come back to haunt us, mock us and drain the life out of us The good news thata vision doesn’t have to be pute illusion. If we're willing to sweat through a process of making it real and articu- lating it clearly, rather than just creating the il- lusion of vision, we ean allow our stakeholders to drive a stake through that vampire’ heart. Passionless The Visioning Process Avision statement willbe worth more than the paper (or plastic) it’s printed on when it be- ‘comes a driving force and compels people to do something, change something, become some- thing. That means it must pass the “baloney test” and get to the heart of the organization, answering key questions about its competitive strengths. ‘The statement also needs to be a “living” document that incorporates the best ofthe or- ganization’s past into an ideal yet feasible view of the future. Only then will people do more than just buy into the image; they'll actually own it Creating such a statement is not an easy task, but a necessary one nonetheless. What does this hard work involve? Here are the citi cal components of a visioning process: ‘8 We have to know who we are before we can decide where we want to go. This means we hhave to do some serious soul searching. Who MANAGEMENT REVIEW/ FEBRUARY 1938 25 ‘A “sof” business issue aOrganizations, like people, need to make a difference. But it’s hard to make a difference if we don’t set out to do so. are we, really? Why are we? What are our core values? What ate our core competencies (and incompetencies)? Writing @ vision statement without clear answers to these questions is akin to a doctor \writing a prescription for an illness without ex- amining the patient. We'll end up with a wart- like philosophy such as “growth.” ‘© We need widespread input on these issues that goes beyond the advice of consultants or the results of benchmarking against (read “copying from”) other organizations. The input also must come from—especiall from—our people, The visioning process must be intelli gently planned to ensure thatthe results are ‘comprehensive and inclusive. Managers also need to prevent the process from suc- cumbing to the lowest common denomi- nator; @ false consensus can result in a vi Ford Motor: Visualization in the present tense (“Employee involve ‘ment is our way of fe"). General Mills: Specific, dynamic and dramatic ("We wil drive out bu- reaueracy and parochialism”) HAR Block: Selects three major categories (quality products, excel- ‘American Red Cross: Sufficient ‘etal and stakeholder-oriented (The American people can exe pect.) ‘Anheuser-Busch: Comprehensive and no baloney (ull debate hon- exty and forthright expression of opinion at al levels). ‘Arco Chemical Touches on allar- eas related to sucess (environment, safety, customers, innovation, et). Chase Manhattan: Personalized to the employee ("! strive for 100 per- cent satisfaction: | stand behind ‘whatever | do”), lent servic, reasonable fes) and in- cludes a substantial definition ofeach Lands’ End: Bult clearly on practi- «al principles ("We add back features and construction details that others have taken out”). Price Waterhouse: Customer-or- ‘enced but elevating to employees (Although we wil keep client objec- tives clearly in mind..we will noe be sycophants, Rubbermaid: Detaled, people-or- ented and forward-looking ("[We will reinforce experimentation, ls- ‘ening and risk-taking”). JL sion that does not offend anyone but also fails to challenge and motivate employees. i in enough detail that we can be held accountable. People must be able to look at a specific clause and know whether or not we (or they) ate living up toiit. Itneeds to stretch us without stressing us, More than making us feel good, a vision needs to make us feel little uncomfortable. ‘ Werneed to support the implementation of. the vision. we wantit to permeate organization- al life, we must devote as much (or more) time to ‘our ideal after we've developed the vison stae- ‘ment as we did when creating it. For example, we ‘must describe ts implications to people, train em ployees to understand what it means to them, cre- ate continuous learning processes to nurture the vision’s deep roots and broad branches, develop ‘mechanisms to apply it, communicate the vision through many forums (particularly stories) and revise it ast gain life during its implementation Not Too Much, Not Too Little AA vision statement—the articulation of a com- panty’svision—can be too long or too short, to0 detailed or too terse. Either imbalance will cre~ ate problems. If the statement contains too ‘much detail, the following problems will arise: It becomes less a statement of vision than alist of plans or priorities it loses its “timeless” nature and becomes a short-term agenda; it contains ‘more detail than people can retain as a guide; and it loses focus and paints too broad a picture. ‘Conversely a vision statement with oo lit tle detail has these problems: It can become so elevated that it doesn't ring true for employees; people can't relate it to their everyday pres- sures, decisions and actions; it makes us seem interchangeable with a thousand other organi- zations; and it trivilizes the complexity, prob- lems and uniqueness of our organization. Organizations ike people, need to make a difference, But is hard to make a difference if we don't set out to do so—or if there's nothing about us that is truly and specifically differen. We can do many things well but we can’t do all things well. A carefully considered and articulated vision helps us know who we are and who we aren't, what we do successfully and what we don’t, what we should take on and what we should gladly drop. ‘The alternative—mindless meandering— isa sorry fate. mn Tend opin NAorTS TO) er eer epyporaien 25 AMERICAN MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL/ FEBRUARY 1998