Do you know why your organisation exists? You may know what your organisation does, but that is not necessarily why it exists!
I recently heard someone talking about a company that laid new driveways. When the workmen were asked why their company existed they said something like “so that people can enjoy a safe and comfortable walk along their driveway”!
When the same question was asked of the company’s owner he said that they existed to give unemployed people a job. He said that it just happens to be that the way that they can do this is by laying driveways, but that if they couldn’t do that they would replace roofs or paint houses or do whatever it took to provide work for these folk that would otherwise be unemployed. That is why the company exists!
Do you know the core values of your organisation? These are the 2 or 3 things that, no matter what happens will not be violated. If you inform your people about these – it can be so empowering for them as they know they can make decisions as long as those values are not crossed.
South West Airlines exist to make air travel available for all. Their 3 core values are to have a fun experience, keep costs low and have a quick turnaround for their planes – the more they are in the air the lower they can keep costs. All of their staff know that as long as they keep within these they can make the decisions.
Two examples show the importance of these core, non violable values. The fun environment was so important that there were even jokes made within the safety announcement. One day a cabin crew member said “ladies and gentlemen, in the event of a water landing we will be coming around with drinks and towels!” One lady took offence at this and wrote a letter to the CEO complaining about this, saying that safety was too important an issue to joke about, that she was a frequent flier with South West and that she thought he should do something about it. Instead of investigating and bringing in new guidelines etc, he wrote back to her and the letter had 3 words on it – “we’ll miss you!” This was a core value to the company and they were not going to cast it aside because of her complaint.
On another occasion a passenger had a ticket to fly to one destination and wished to change that to another. He went to the girl on the South West Airlines check-in desk and made his request. Without needing to look anything up or check with someone she thought for a moment “does this violate the 3 core values?” It didn’t affect the fun attitude, didn’t affect costs as there were spare seats on the alternative flight and didn’t affect the turnaround time of the planes – so the answer was a swift “yes”.
Leaders, you really need to know the reason why the organisation exists, and what the 2 or 3 core values are that cannot be violated, no matter the cost. These need to be communicated to all staff so that there is no confusion and they know what they can and can’t do.
Staff members, ask the questions of your leaders – why do we exist? what are our core values? It will make everyone happier in their work and truly empowered if they know why the non-violable boundaries are. It will improve the health of your organisation and you will see a big difference.