Three Things You Can Do to Install a Leadership Culture Right Now
In my previous article, I outlined the problems Cause Organizations (non-profits, political organizations, and other issue-driven chartered organizations) have due to a lack of leadership culture. I also identified six points that indicate you have a problem.
In this article, I get you started on the road to recovery with three simple things you can implement right away: a shared mission, a shared vision, and shared core values.
Alright, I can almost hear you rolling your eyes through the screen. But stick with me; I promise it will be worth it.
While I’m at it, I want to draw your attention to the word “shared” throughout. These processes should be as inclusive as practical. And you should be ready and open to going back to the drawing board.
Shared Mission
Almost every organization bangs out a mission statement early on. They often don’t know what to do with it. How many people on your leadership team can recite the mission from memory? Do you ever talk about it? Refer back to it during regular meetings or reports? Do you use it as a tool?
Your mission statement is bigger than any one person, any one ego. It was probably there before you got your position and will likely be there long after you leave it. It’s a constant. And it can carry a very heavy load.
Uses for a Shared Mission Statement:
- Alignment: If everyone knows it by heart, discusses it in meetings, refers to it during debates, unpacks and picks it apart, it’s an extremely useful tool for creating alignment. Most importantly, it doesn’t depend on one person being “right” and another “wrong.” There’s no “bad guy” when the mission wins. It’s almost like an extra vote on your board.
- Gut Check: A well-crafted mission statement is your north star when it comes to making a decision. Either a decision will get you closer to mission accomplishment or pull you further away from it. Are the resources worth the impact? Ask the mission. Do we do “A” or “B”? Ask the mission.
- Planning: Annual and strategic planning can be daunting for people that aren’t practiced in it. A good mission statement should make what you need to do in the near, medium, and long term (fairly) obvious.
- Organization: You should organize and allocate resources based on what you’re trying to accomplish in a given cycle. Whether you use committee structures or director roles, giving people titles and roles specifically tied to different facets of mission accomplishment ensures your attention is focused on the right things, even if they look and feel a little different than a standard, cookie-cutter org structure.
- Reporting Progress: If your planning, progress, and organization are all lined up to your mission, it should also be a pretty useful and obvious framework for reporting back to your board, donors, and membership. The mission should fall right off the page out of your monthly, quarterly, and especially annual reports.
If your mission statement can’t handle these tasks, then consider re-working it as a leadership committee.
Shared Vision
A mission statement is what you do and how you do it. A vision statement is what it looks like when you’ve succeeded. It is an aspirational “perfect future,” but not so aspirational that people can’t imagine it ever becoming a reality.
Writing a really good vision statement is a fairly involved process. I’ve seen precious few that were up to the job assigned to them. But then, I’ve also seen precious few organizations that knew what to do with them, so it isn’t always apparent where the shortfall starts. For this stage, assume your vision is “good enough” until you put it to work. If it doesn’t hold up, you can always rework it later. The important thing here is to use it.
Uses for a Shared Vision
- Inspire: If people can see the better future right in front of them, it’s easy to keep them motivated. You should be referring and alluding to your vision, in whole and in part, in basically everything you say in formal and informal settings.
- Recruit: People are attracted to ideas and causes that don’t just work hard, but promise to deliver real results. A vision portrays a world where those results are already there. It shows you know where you’re going and why they want to be a part of what you’re doing.
- Fundraise: Much like recruiting, people will invest their money in something where the outcome and better future are clear and you obviously know how to get us there.
- Measure (and celebrate) Progress: Vision statements are usually qualitative, but still measurable. During the course of a year, you should be able to identify ways you’ve made progress toward achieving the changes or outcomes you’ve described for the people you support. Executive committee meetings and agendas should be obsessed with identifying these markers and how to move them forward.
If your leadership and members know the vision, can recite it, talk to it amongst each other and to others, it is the simplest, most powerful messaging tool you have at your disposal. But it’s only as important and central as you, the leadership team, makes it. A mediocre vision statement that is central to the daily operation of a team is far more powerful than a perfect one gathering dust in a drawer.
Shared Core Values
Right up front, let’s differentiate the values of the Cause you’re supporting from the core values of the organization. Core values are all about how you act toward each other, what you will tolerate and what you won’t, and how you personally represent the organization to others. It’s also about helping to proactively resolve conflict.
Remember, your members and your leadership team come from everywhere. They have diverse experiences and personal values, and different language for communicating them. That’s why a shared set of organizational values are so important. It brings everyone together under a common framework and shared understanding.
To get specific for a moment, let’s say you’re a campaign manager. Your job (mission) is to get your candidate elected. Your vision is an overwhelming victory through huge voter turnout among your supporters and persuading skeptics. What does that say about how you are going to treat people on the campaign team? How they should be expected to treat each other? What’s the image of professionalism they should display to the world? That’s why you need to pay attention to core values.
It’s hard to overstate the impact a set of shared values have. I remember every single one from every organization I belonged to that made them a priority. I also recall specific conversations where they were used to frame both recognition and correctives. I remember many long discussions about what they meant, how they manifested, and what would constitute a breach.
A tool is only valuable if you use it
Going through the motions isn’t enough. For these tools to be impactful in installing a leadership culture, you have to integrate them into everything you do. In addition to the points I made earlier, here are a few other recommendations:
- Make it tangible, literally. Print wallet cards with your Mission, Vision, and Core Values and hand them out to everyone. Do periodic challenges by asking people to show them (reward them if they can).
- Make it front-and-center, literally. If you have office space, print posters. Whether you do or not, make them the first two or three slides in every presentation. Include it in all of your printed and digital materials in some fashion.
- Make it a topic of frequent discussion. Take time during meetings to identify key themes from your Mission, Vision, or Values for their own sake (i.e. not just a touchpoint during other business). Ask members to take turns leading a brief story or discussion about one of them. Use them to recognize people who are exemplary.
- Keep a very open mind. If you’ve never operated this way before, you should know that this all about consensus. You may have some very strong opinions on the matter. That’s great. But this is not about you being “right,” it’s about the organization being stronger.
I asked you in the beginning to stick with me. I hope, after reading, you see the enormous potential in these three simple frameworks for your organization. If you have them, use them. If you don’t, create them. They will cost you nothing, but deliver tremendous value if you commit to them.
~Happy Leading!