In ‘Good to Great’ Jim Collins said:
“…at the outset, to be clear, it's not just about assembling the right team, that's nothing new. The main point is first to get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus – before you figure out where to drive it.”
…yet in all of his wonderful book, he never actually describes the ‘bus’. And that's what this conversation on value is about.
Because if you can describe how you conceive value in the behaviours driving the people, how you contribute value in all that the company does, with its implications for the planet and social good, and how you count value; then you've described the “bus” that people are on.
The right people will automatically be attracted to the value you conceive, contribute and count. The wrong people will often self-select off the bus as they realise they don’t fit.
The benefit of describing the value quite explicitly manifests as a covenant you’re creating for the people who are involved in driving your enterprise forward.
Now imagine what that does. A covenant on value helps them determine what's relevant and what's not, in the sea of complexity that every enterprise is swimming through.
That'll improve the quality of decision making (…right?)
It's akin to the Commander's Intent within the military. That's where the commander sets out a mission and is really quite explicit about what is to be achieved and what the characteristics of an end-state looks like. A Commander’s Intent describes a lot of the WHY and the WHAT and leaves the HOW for the people to create within the boundaries of the intent.
So therefore, a covenant on value makes much easier for your people (as they define the HOW) to:
· explore consequences beyond the immediate return.
· reduce risks strategically and operationally.
· increase the capacity for meaningful work, and so reduce absenteeism and increase retention.
It might even go so far as regenerating trust in the enterprise, because people will see that you're doing what you said you would do in the covenant - that is, your description of the value and how it's conceived, how it's contributed, and how it's counted.
Wouldn’t you like a slice of that?
Next week, I'm going to give you some insight into what a shorthand covenant on value might look like and then we'll round off this series with an invitation for those who might be keen, to explore a covenant on value with support from me.
I look forward to being in touch with you again next week. And I'd love to hear what you say drop a comment below.
Have a great week.
Cheers for now,
Richard
#NoProblemTooBig
#AnchorOnValue
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