Hi Reader. A lot of organizations I work with find themselves with poor cultures that are counteractive to their purpose. Worse still, they don't know how to reverse stagnant, misaligned cultures and or how to accelerate cultures that best serve their purpose.

It's simple really when you understand 2 things. Number 1: an organization is made up of people, literal human beings. Number 2: the values that these humans embody and how they embody those values, are the building blocks of what becomes culture.

Culture is therefore a movement. It's not only about knowing your values, but how your people embody these in everything that they do.

Question:

Have you ever walked into a business, walked up to the reception area, and either the receptionist did not look up at you as you approached them, or worse still - they acted like you weren't there, even when they were the ones who buzzed you in.

Or have you been in a situation where the receptionist is doing multiple things at the same time, and so not really paying attention to what you are saying, resulting in you being given the wrong instructions that have nothing to do with what you have come for?

On top of that, when you walk into these spaces, a lot of the organizations have beautifully laminated or framed 'Organizational values, missions and customer commitments' plastered on their walls when you walk in.

In fact, these very plaques on walls, are one of first things you see as you enter a building or reception area. But the actual service you receive, is nowhere close to what they provide. It's lackluster in its delivery.

Here is another scenario, have you ever arrived at an organization, told them what you needed, but then was sent from one department to another, from one person to another, with no resolution in site, because no-one actually knows where to send you? I have had this a lot of times.

I don't know about you, but that has gotten me questioning, if what the organization advertises their services and products to be, is actually what it is. Because surely someone would know how to help you, and if not, had the courtesy to let you know, and guide you to someone who could actually try to figure it out.

The Source of Poor Quality Service, Products & Human Relations

Remember that cultures are created. And values are the building blocks of any culture. Outcomes of undefined values, and or misunderstanding of what the values actually mean, or why there are there in the first place, are as follows:

• Mediocrity,
• Lackluster service, that gets worse over time,
• Negatively affecting the very energy of the business, which in turn,
• Negatively influences the attitude of the very people creating this energy.
• Because who would want to work in that environment anyway?
• This means that you lose higher performing talent, who thrive on clarity and transparency
• You have mediocrity as the resounding value, said or unsaid, which thrives on:
• Low productivity, low performance, poor outcomes, which in turn, results in
• Loss of clientele who now, because of the hyper-connected internet,
• Are aware of and therefore, have many more options on where they can spend their money.
• The devastating loss to your business, and your team = loss of revenue
• The very revenue that will help you to innovate and to retain high performing staff.

There is no blame here. Rather, an opportunity for leaders, business owners, organizations, and entrepreneurs who want to be better and to do better. It is an opportunity for them to:

• Clarify their bold visions,
• Turn these bold visions into actual operationally sustainable reality.
• Clarify their purpose and mission not only for their organization, but for the world.

They are individuals or groups of people, visionaries rather, who are deeply committed to:

• Leaving their mark in the world,
• Creating a living legacy, now, not only what is left after they die
• Through their work today, serve the world in a deeply connected and conscious way.

If you are one of these people, the question you may have in your mind might be: Okay, Barbara - where do I start? How do I reduce the likelihood of mediocrity occurring around me? Or - How do I reverse the effects of already formed cultures that are currently hurting the bottom line?

Let's Take a Look at the Answers together:

Remember that an organization is made up of people, literal human beings. The values that these humans embody and how they embody them are the building blocks of what resonates as the culture.

Culture is a movement. It's not just about knowing your values, but how your people embody them in everything that they do. You yourself are also a representative of these values as people look up to you as the leader.

Building a certain culture requires you to not only know what your personal, professional and business values are, but how to embody them in everything that you do. Two things to note here at organizational and team level:

1. Define the sort of culture that would accelerate performance, productivity, impact, and return on investment.
2. Then, ask yourself: what would be the values that each person in my team, organization, venture and so on, need to embody for us to have this sort of culture in place
3. Does each person know what their role entails, and with that, how to embed these values in all they do

Let's talk about Embodiment of Values

So, as you know by now, we embody values by making sure that all that we do, and how we do all that we do, is done in a way that our values describe. In essence, we are embedding our values in the way we carry out whatever activities we are tasked to carry out.

Now by the way, as a leader, we need to be clear on how the activities that each of our team members are carrying out on a daily basis, are feeding into the bigger picture. We will delve into this a little later in the article.

For now, remember that, if we are just engaging in daily activities, for the sake of just ticking a box, this is not sustainable. It is short lived, a waste of resources, and a waste of talent.

Positive impact comes in embodying and embedding the values in everything that we do; and that everything we do is in relation to our team's purpose and vision; and ultimately to the organizational purpose and vision.

So how does Embedding Values look like?

Let's take the value of professionalism as an example. The caveat here is that everyone needs to know what professionalism means and looks like for them to accurately embody and express it in the way they carry out their specific duties.

Taking receptionists as an example, they way they can embed professionalism into their work, is by being professional in the way they answer the phone, the way they greet, handle, and in the way they attend to visitors' needs.

Everything is handled through the eye of professionalism. Taking it a step further, even the way they dress, speak, and relate to visitors, has to 'spell out ' professionalism without them having to verbalize it.

Remember that there is both verbal and nonverbal communication. And so, your very environment, internal and external, your body language, the words you use, how you use them, and everything tangible or intangible within the context of work, should be curated in that manner too.

If we are to accurately Embody and Express our Values, in a way that is measurable, where do we start?

Start by creating, what I called an Actionable Strategy. Why? What is it? What does it do?

1. It clarifies your purpose (why you are here),
2. It focuses your vision (long term goals that feed into your purpose),
3. It aligns your mission activities (the actual everyday actions we engage in, that lead us to realizing the vision over time),
4. It embodies and embeds values (how we are going to carry out the everyday activities), and
5. It creates a flexible implementation plan (the resources we currently have to fulfill the mission activities).

In detail, this is how it looks like:

1. The Mission activities are the actual activities that each person is engaged in when they come to work every day. These mission activities, are actual activities that feed into the long term goals, i.e. the Vision.
2. The Vision is borne out of knowing the purpose of your team and or department in relation to the purpose of the whole organization.
3. The Vision serves the purpose by asking, what are the long term goals we need to set, to make sure we are being of service to The Purpose of this organization.
4. The Values are the way we carry out the mission activities. It answers the question of how do we embed them into all that we do. This creates culture over time.
5. Implementation plan takes your mission activities, and allocates available resources required for each activity to be carried out in the designated period of time. Resources include people, skillsets, gadgets, machinery, tools etc...

All this spells out the Formula for an aligned, clearly focused, results-based implementation plan

Everything feeds into the other. If any one of these ingredients or elements is missing, your culture dismantles into unfocused, misaligned, unaligned and poor performance, low productivity, low impact, and a decreasing ROI.

Having this formula in mind, helps you, your team and organization, reverse any negative effects of past unproductive outcomes, and or better still, accelerates progress.

Advantages of having an Aligned, clearly Focused, Results-based Implementation Plan are

At a higher visionary level, an aligned, clearly focused, results-based implementation plan acts as an organizational wide communication tool.

Its transparent nature allows it to have multiple purposes. For example, if it is transparency across your team, department or organization, it easily acts as:

• An open and visible monitoring and evaluation tool
• An audit and resource alignment tool
• An organizational or departmental growth or pivoting tool
• An ongoing performance evaluation tool
• A hiring, onboarding, and retention tool.

Clarity and transparency makes it easier for you and your organization, to evolve, changer and perform faster, and in an aligned manner.

Increasing Early-set Buy-in and Dedication from your Teams

An important, mostly missed key to the development of an actionable strategy, is to involve your teams in the creation of this strategy.

I see a lot of organizations creating strategies away from their teams, then bringing it in as a complete strange concept.

This is like bringing in a stranger into the household, without introducing that stranger before and during their visit to the rest of the family. Trust has to be earned, and it takes time. Let's talk about this a little bit:

There is a Strong Correlation between Trust and Performance.

I support organizations in not only creating actionable strategies, but in the communication process of creating it with their teams. The more transparent you can be and are with your teams, the less performance and productivity is affected.

*A gentle reminder that there is a vast difference between honesty and transparency. If this is of interest, just hit reply to this email and I will send you a link to an article where I explain the difference.

Involve your teams early on in the building of the actionable strategy. For example: as a leader you might be clear on what the purpose of the team and department is, in relation to the purpose and vision of the whole organization.

You need to be able to translate this information into the context of your team. Then from there, distill this organizational wide purpose and vision, to the level of your team and or department.

Communicating all this with your Team

Bring your team together and say: This is the purpose and the vision of the organization. These are the expectations of our team and or department. Let's together, create a strategy that helps us stay on course.

As a deeply aware leader, at this stage, you would have already done the work on this, so that you are also using your own visionary skills to make sure nothing is left behind.

This provides you space and time to do the one thing only you can do - which is to make sure that the team is staying on track and losing course away from the Purpose and Vision. After you have worked on it:

Bring it to your team to expand and use their skills and talent to make it even more robust, and or to answer some questions that you yourself may not have been able to answer on your own.

Communicating with your team looks like this:

1. Create your team / departmental purpose, by asking Question 1: How do you see and understand the purpose of our team or department, in relation to the organization's purpose? Correct where there needs to be correction in understanding. Acknowledge and commend understanding.
2. Question 2: What would be the long term Vision goals for our team / department to serve this purpose?
3. Question 3: What are the actual Mission activities that each team member or team lead, needs to carry out, or to lead their teams through? And by when?
4. Question 4: How are they going to embed the organizational Values into all that they will do?
5. Question 5: What resources do we currently have, and or can be allocated from what is available, to help them (i) complete these Mission activities, and (ii) in a way that expresses our Values?

Take it a step further and have it clarified: who is going to do what, by when and how? What support do they need from you as the leader? This increases accountability and transparency both ways, horizontally and vertically.

It all goes back to the formula. That is: using timelines as defined in the organizational purpose and vision, to align mission activities expected of your department, characterized by similarly understood values.

Conclusion

Okay dear leader, that's our 'session' for today.

With a rich, multi-disciplinary background, I have honed the ability to synthesize vast amounts of data from a variety of fields, turning complex information into actionable, sustainable, and agile strategies.

My extensive educational journey, both formal and informal, allows me to draw insights from diverse disciplines, which I then consolidate into practical solutions that can be implemented across multiple industries.

If you, your organization or others you know are going through change management, and are needing to refresh, realign, and re-embrace life giving cultures, it is so very easy to connect with me for an initial discovery call to assess needs, and the best way forward.

1. All they or you have to do is to Fill out this form and I will get back to you or them within a 24-48 hour period.
2. And in the meantime, you and they can explore some of the work I have and continue to guide leaders and organizations through. This can be found on my Easy to Navigate Website. Just Click Here.
3. Finally, if you have any quick questions regarding this email, do not hesitate to ask. Just HIT REPLY to this email with your question and I will respond 🌟

Stay awesome my friend and speak soon!