The Hindu Business Line : When vision, mission and values go off track

It is critical for companies to have a vision, a clear mission and core values that bind it all together. This must be understood by the head and felt in the heart of each person.

M. Chandrasekaran

The company’s spanking new office was impressive. I had been associated with the company in its early days and had come to visit the CEO, who was a good friend.

It had been a couple of years since I last visited the company and I marvelled at the changes that success brings in its train.

After a rocky start, the company had proved itself a survivor and had then built steadily on a sound platform to grow into a well-regarded entity.

Signboards of success

I saw that the office’s walls were covered with accolades from various sources.

I also noticed the company’s vision and mission statements and values beautifully printed, framed and hung on the walls.

I was escorted to my friend’s office. Along the way, there were more displays of the vision, mission and values document.

My friend, the CEO, was in a good mood and we recalled the old times when there was very little money in the company, but no shortage of challenges and fun.

Pretty soon, the reason for my friend inviting me to visit was clear. Trouble was brewing in paradise.

The attrition rates were getting uncomfortably high and the reasons were not clear. The CEO was naturally deeply worried and he asked if I could help by talking to a few senior people whom I had known from my earlier association with the company.

About a year earlier, the CEO and his senior team decided to launch a high-profile drive to articulate the company’s vision and mission and define its values.

A well-known consultancy firm was chosen and they did their professional best to give shape to their mandate.

There was hectic activity and at the end of it emerged the document that now adorned the walls of the company.

The hope was that this document would become a kind of Magna Carta that everyone in the company could relate to and use as the pole star in guiding their own actions and that of the company.

Instead, the very reverse happened — the grumbling became louder and discontent started growing rapidly.

It was as if these latent issues were earlier written in invisible ink and this initiative had brought them to glowing life.

Fact-finding mission

The first set of meetings with the senior executives was full of platitudes and stonewalling when it came to the crucial issue troubling the company.

The first breakthrough came when at least a couple of them complained about the elaborate vision-mission-values exercise that had been carried out throughout the company with great fanfare and at enormous cost.

Digging deeper, it was clear that there were serious disconnects between the noble words enshrined on the walls of the company and actual happenings on the ground on a daily basis.

This was reaffirmed when I had a chance to meet some of the younger employees in the company.

The company had grown successful partly as a result of its expertise, but mostly because external circumstances had driven its growth.

It was mostly a case of the high tide lifting all the boats.

Unwelcome changes

Along with success came unwelcome changes in the attitude of the CEO and many of his senior team members.

The company, known for its open culture, suddenly became a place where doors were certainly open, but where minds were closed.

Slowly but steadily the passion that drove the company earlier was ebbing.

It was clear that the problem was not with the vision-mission-values exercise; it was in the disconnect between the actual day-to-day actions of the senior team and the formally stated intentions.

In a sense, the vision defines the mountain peaks that are clearly visible and the ones that are further ahead but slightly less visible; the mission the way to get there; and the values are the guiding principles of conduct on a daily basis.

What was happening in the company was a daily negation, especially of the enunciated values.

In some cases, the stated mission was also being subverted due to the whims and fancies of the senior team buoyed by their own sense of success, invincibility and hubris.

An explosive cocktail that was brewing disaster from within the system.

In word and spirit

It is critical for companies to have a vision, a clear mission and core values that bind it all together.

This must be understood by the head and felt in the heart of each person.

The vision of the company must make the eyes of employees shine with the joy of belonging. They must voluntarily subscribe to the value system that can help them reinforce and modify their own personal value systems.

It is not even necessary to formally articulate vision, mission and values if they are lived on a daily basis.

If there is a disconnect, it is best that a vision-mission-values exercise be not conducted at all.

It just accentuates the fault lines in the system and brings loss of credibility to the senior team. A case of kicking sand in one’s own eyes.

It was my misfortune to inform the CEO and his team of the reasons behind the recent discontent.

And all I can say is that as the messenger of bad tidings, it was made clear to me that I was wrong in my assessment. The CEO and I are no longer friends!

(The writer is advisor to 3i Infotech, Manipal Education & Medical Group and IDFC Pvt Equity.)

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