Sustaining vision and values

Too many vision and values programmes glide over the surface, produce a few ripples and drift away, forgotten. They have no anchor at a deep level.

In our research, American companies strongly outperformed other groups on systems to embed vision and values, an area of weak delivery by non-profits (Figure 9.1).

Figure 9.1: Percentage of organizations achieving best practice on systems to embed

The primary reason for American companies' superior performance was quality of systems to translate vision and values into strategies and practices; and success in linking these to individuals, through personal objectives, appraisal and reward.

Most organizations performed poorly on training to make vision and values work, and fewer than 20% used annual themes to promote them:

"It's not enough to gain acceptance to vision and values. It's essential to train people in how to implement them in practice and this includes training in process management... Organizations are always ready to stabilize, rest on their oars, take a breather - you need to keep moving things forward." ^[1]

Among the few organizations to run effective vision and values promotions or themes were BP, PepsiCo, General Mills, Unipart, FedEx and Centrica.

The influence of founders

Founders or their notable successors often achieve legendary status in organizations. Their vision and values are frequently distinctive and deeply felt. This combination of personal reputation and resonating vision is a powerful embedder. In our research, founders or key past leaders still influenced...