|
ARCHIVE
|
State Spending, Healthcare, Ethics
December 21, 2006
|
Transportation, Water, Energy
November 29, 2006
|
CPPA Events
October 11, 2006
|
Energy
August 30, 2006
|
Sports Economy
July 26, 2006
|
Elections
June 30, 2006
|
Health Care
May 8, 2006
|
Taxes / Revenue Forecast
March 29, 2006
|
Water Policy
February 28, 2006
|
Special Legislative Edition
February 23, 2006
|
[MORE]
|
|
|  |
|
|
Who Cares?
by Ken Embley, CPPA
The answer to the question “Who cares?” naturally begs another
question—about what? In this case, the “about
what” is—who cares about your organization mission, vision and values?
I know I am getting cynical in my old age but I must admit
to my own frustration when I get a call from a well-intended manager who wants
help writing or revising mission, vision and values statements because some higher-ranking
manager is insisting. Faced with the managers
plea for help, I usually say “yes” when what I really want to say is “Not only no
but heck no!” The reason why my answer
should be “no” is because writing statements for the sake of having statements leads
me to believe that the real answer to the question “Who cares?” is—nobody
cares!
Continuing with my cynical theme, some managers write these statements
because it is a task to complete on an imagined task list that includes writing
the statements, framing them on the wall, including them on the website, and announcing
them in staff meeting. However, what is
most important to the manager is completing these burdening tasks so he or she
can get on with real work.
My point, this kind of manager should never write mission,
vision and values statements because he or she does not understand the true worth
of the statements. Furthermore, I propose
that the writing of mission, vision and values statements is not the job of a
manager but that of a leader.
You see, a leader is a person who asks questions like “What
are we trying to do?”—and this is one of the easiest to ask and most difficult
of questions to answer. A mark of a
leader, an attribute that puts him or her in a position to show the way for
others, is that the leader is better than most at pointing the direction. As long as the leader is leading, he or she
always has a goal.
The word goal, as I use it here, is in the special sense of
the overarching purpose, the big dream, the visionary concept, the ultimate
consummation that one approaches in mission, vision and values statements. A leader always knows the goal and can
articulate it for any who are unsure.
Achievement typically starts with a goal but not just any
goal and not just anybody stating the goal.
The one who states the goal must elicit trust, and a leader does not
elicit trust unless followers have confidence in leader values and unless the
leader has a sustaining spirit that will support the tenacious pursuit of goals.
Not much happens without a goal and for something great to
happen, there must be a great goal. It
requires much more than a goal to make it a reality (and that task belongs to a
manager) but the clear articulation of a goal must be there first (and that
task belongs to a leader).
Perhaps I am being a little too hard on all of us managers
who see to the tasks and realities of day-to-day business. Yet I cannot ignore the essential task of a
leader and role of leadership in our organizations. So I persist, some managers seem to write goals to satisfy the requirement
to do so but leaders develop goals with followers that give meaning to the
reality of a day, an overreaching purpose, a visionary concept and values to
sustain efforts.
Who cares about organization goals? If a leader works with followers to bring
life to organization mission, vision and values, the answer to the question
“Who cares?” is—everyone cares!
| | |
