It’s time to take a serious look at this stuff in your strategic plan and instead of fluff, focus on coming up with some substantive actions.
I recently discovered quite by accident a website called wankernomics.com. It was developed by a couple comedians who put on shows in Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K., who clearly have had much experience in the corporate world and who make a living poking fun at the business-speak and other management insanity that is so common in business today. One of their recent videos on how companies actually come up with organizational values really struck a chord with me.
As a part of the strategic planning process that AEC firms go through, after days or weeks of wordsmithing their mission and vision, many then feel obligated to articulate their “company values.” As a management consultant who has lead countless strategic planning projects, I have seen many of these values statements or lists of company values over the years, although thankfully, I can’t recall a single time I had to participate in developing these “values” for a client myself.
I can admit it. I have always been very critical of the values statements companies in our industry develop and post on the wall in their lunchrooms and conference rooms, or use in their email signature lines. Most of them sound like pure BS to me. And I’m not even an engineer or accountant. Some of these things must really sound like a five-alarm fire to them.
In the wankernomics.com video, they joked that companies should, after hiring a facilitator, write down these five words to use as their values:
- Integrity
- Respect
- Innovation
- Collaboration
- Excellence
I am certain I have seen each of these and more in the values statements of firms in this business. Maybe it’s time for those of you who are captains of your ship to take a serious look at this stuff in your strategic plan and instead of fluff, focus on coming up with some substantive actions that will actually prepare you for what could be rough seas ahead.
If you need our help with this process we are here to do it. In any case, with or without us, rethinking some of this stuff may help develop more confidence in your people for your leadership abilities if you do!
Mark Zweig is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.