Success is the delivery of value! This is the single most important conclusion of multi-nation, lengthy research. Value lies in the eye of the beholder, be it an organization or an individual! It differs among themselves and evolves constantly with time. The sole sustainable way of creating value and hence wealth is through delivered value! Leaders who seek to create value as perceived value are doomed to fail. They try to build on a ‘vision’ detached from reality.
A company exists for a specific purpose! Its raison d'être –its reason for existence!
- How, however, can its purpose be realized optimally?
- Only through a clearly defined Mission, as shown by extensive international research(1).
The corporate mission must describe what value the organization must
deliver today to its stakeholders -and, therefore, what the core corporate processes must be creating in an optimally formed value chain. The mission must be based on the set of values (the corporate code of ethics) of the company.The corporate mission is quite distinct from the corporate vision and the two should not be confused! (We’ll dwell on vision in a following article.)
The successful leader achieves engagement and alignment through a clearly defined mission –the most significant prerequisite for creating and delivering value.
Defining the mission demands setting clearly defined performance indicators (KPIs) measuring the delivered value –the prerequisite for evidence-led leadership culture.
By speaking and living the corporate values and mission (with their words and actions - with their tongue and body language), successful leaders, achieve team spirit, loyalty and above all develop leaders, who can apply autonomously the same values towards the same purpose in carrying out their own (partial) mission without the need to resort continuously to the top executives. They automatically apply the ‘commander’s intent’ with the same non-negotiable principles of the business: its values and mission!
Successful leaders select and appoint their associates and junior leaders according to their values and competencies and not just their know-how and experience –only then can they blend in the corporate culture.
They know that it is impossible and undesirable to apply close control. They, therefore, select and develop leaders, who can represent them autonomously. That is why they make their managers part of the top team and they surface dilemmas so that they can be discussed and debated openly within the corporate set of values. That is how solutions are formed and trust is built.
Last but not least is the capability of successful leaders to act authentically and be seen to be authentic. And this is much more difficult than most managers think, since often leaders are obliged to take decisions which at first sight appear to contradict the corporate values.
However, only in this way can they achieve respect and the necessary engagement and alignment, which coupled with the vision dictated strategy, secure the delivery of great value.
Successful leaders recognize that their ‘brief’ is holistic and recognize that managing culture (i.e. values) and mission (i.e. processes and people) is the only way to create and deliver great value. They recognize that mission-led companies can achieve continuity and hence sustainability despite leadership changes.
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(1) The Successful Formula – How Smart Leaders Deliver Outstanding value, Andrew Kakabadse, ISBN: 978-1-4729-1684-6
25.9.2015