Genene,
A British author, George Bernard Shaw, summed it up when he said,
"YOUR ACTIONS SPEAK SO LOUDLY I CANNOT HEAR YOUR WORDS".
I can appreciate how it impacts you, but I find that when top managers
have not adopted the words in the vision and mission then their actions do
not reflect the vision. When that is the case their true vision --
demonstrated by actions-- guides the organization. Many top managers would
like to believe they have no control over attitude but their questions
drive the development of attitude.
We can see that in organization that have strong belief systems.
Quadgraphics, to pick one, has a strong belief system. It is high on
improving and everyone working on improving the process for the betterment
of the organization. Their turnover rate for first year employees is very
high. After the initial period the turnover is low for those that believe
consistent with the corporate philosophy. The owner consciously drives the
philosophy.
When lower level people differ with the top they lose, are frustrated and
leave or swallow their feelings.
It happens both ways. When a company chooses to have employee involvement
and a person accustomed to taking orders has values that do not fit and we
have a loss of personnel. Just as the old management expects compliance as
a value the new expects participation the misalignment causes turnover by
those with strong beliefs about either system.
I am currently working with a company that was dominated by a strong
personality who demanded conformance and do what he said. He had robots
who waited for his orders. Some in the company can not step up to deciding
on their own or with a team what to do. They are not likely to stay even
though their technical knowledge is highly desirable.
When written mission and vision are not aligned with the way the top
manager walks people see paper words as useless or the manger as two
faced. Either way it is sad.
"LEADERS WHO DON'T FOLLOW THROUGH WITH THEIR STRATEGIES MAY REALLY BE
SAYING, 'MY GOAL IS NOT IMPORTANT'." ASQ PRESS 1993
At 05:59 PM 5/17/99 -0700, you wrote:
>Eugene Taurman wrote:
>" The vision and mission is what the top managers live ......."
>
>Eugene, I hope you will forgive me for selecting out this phrase to
>disagree with, when I found a number of statements you made to be quite
>insightful. I just have an instinctive, personal reaction to references
>to "top managers" such as this one. I actually find it somewhat
>demoralizing to talk about the vision of the people at the top, as if the
>rest of us don't count in the scheme of things. What does that make me?
>
>Genene Koebelin, graduate student
>koebelin <koebelin@cwix.com>
Eugene Taurman
interLinx Consulting
414-242-3345
http://www.execpc.com/~ilx
If a company values anything more than its' customer, it will lose the
customer.
The irony of that, if it is profitability, market share, security, teams,
learning or philanthropy that it values more it will lose the opportunity
for these too.
--Eugene Taurman <ilx@execpc.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>