Leaders understand the importance of clear mission statements, values and a future vision that will inspire their teams to greatness.
They spend a lot of time and money on consultants to help them create mission, vision, and value statements that will guide their organization’s behavior and decision-making. They print and frame them on the walls for everyone to see.
But do these statements achieve their intended purpose? Unfortunately, the answer is often no.
Why? Because they lack the energizing and engaging energy that comes from the powerful stories that capture the soul of the organization’s purpose. Simple words on a page can never fully convey the depth of your mission, vision, and values.
It just feels flat!
In 2013 I was working with a new client facilitating their strategic offsite. We had spent a fair amount of time discussing and exploring why the organization existed, why it was so different from others and what it saw itself creating. I can tell you the energy in the room was palpable. Everyone was excited by what they were sharing. We captured it in the mission, vision and values and wrote it on the whiteboard.
There was silence as everyone read it and thought about it. Then one of the VPs quietly said, “You know it captures perfectly what we were just sharing. Yet it just feels flat. If you weren’t in the room, you wouldn’t know what it really meant.”
The power of the exiting paradigm to reduce everything to the Activity level is void of that energizing, engaging energy. The activity of turning what we discussed into a set of statements destroyed the energy that created it.
In contrast, The Living Organization® Strategic Compass™ is designed to capture the energy and soul of your organization’s purpose through a compelling story. We are very careful to keep the focus on the energy not the words. We want the team to not just think about why they exist, we want them to feel the deepest sense of their soulful purpose.
Our air purifiers flat out save lives. That is our purpose.
While working with a company that manufactures air purifiers, one of their VPs shared a story of how his 17-year-old Yorkie, named Penni contracted a severe case of Pneumonia and had to be put in an oxygen ventilator for 3 days in the emergency vet’s ICU.
Wanting to do everything he could for his beloved dog, he did extensive research on the subject. One solution that kept popping up for respiratory issues, recommended by both vets and medical doctors (for humans), was HEPA purifiers for each room of the house. It turns out that HEPA air purifiers can not only prevent respiratory illnesses they can flat out save lives. Animals and humans.
The words, “we exist to save lives is one thing.” The story behind it brings the words to life.
Capture a compelling story
The Living Organization’s® Strategic Compass™ ensures the underlying energy of who we are, why we exist, what we do, the impact we will make and the character we will live by is captured as a compelling story. It is not the words themselves that will attract and engage people, it is the energy expressed through the story.
Contact us for an informal conversation how we can help your organization move forward.