Steven Malamud wrote:
> Dear Colleagues:
>
> I am at an impasse in the development of our corporate website. In the
> process of developing our corporate web site, we have created a mission,
> vision, and values statement.
...snip...
> * Do vision and values statements belong on a corporate web site and why?
>
> * How do we communicate the mission, vision, values statement to
> employees in a way that might be meaningful, given the process we have
> experienced?
I feel for your agony and frustration Steven. This has all the makings of
a tangled ball of yarn after a litter of kittens got to it. Untangling it
is more aggravating than just throwing it out and getting a new skein.
Unfortunately, once people have invested time and mental energy into the
act of creation, nothing short of a nuclear blast moves them from the
ideas and positions they have embraced.
Just the same, I'll make what suggestions make sense to me with what I
know. As a rule, it is more valuable for the key players in a company to
go *through* the process of defining and articulating their mission,
vision, and values than it is for a customer to read them. If the
statements existed before the web site was created, it would be very
useful to have them "out there" for the public to look at (especially if
they were concise, well constructed, powerful statements).
My own take on what you have described as the process of creating the
corporate mission/vision/values is to toss it in the can and let the whole
matter rest until emotions have calmed. At that point, your CEO should
return to the table (with a skilled and experienced facilitator) to begin
the process anew...the right way. When you get the mission/vision/values
(and sometimes you end up with something else...like philosophy or agenda)
thing nailed down, add it to the web site. What is important is that the
resulting statements speak TO your company ABOUT your company FROM your
company's language and perspective. No formula will give you this. It is
an exploration you have to be willing to endure.
It seems that the group involved in this process may have confused the
medium with the message. They are not same. This is a common
misunderstanding, and I've seen it before. WHAT we say, and HOW we
communicate it are independent variables. If your CEO did not need a
mission/vision/values statement for the last annual report (a
communications medium), then she/he can live without it on the web site.
If the web site is a marketing tool, then customers won't know the
difference if the mission/vision thing isn't there. It doesn't exist on
most sites.
To answer your two questions:
1) these statements belong on SOME corporate web sites for specific
reasons. There are lots of reasons to include or exclude them. The most
important reason to add them is to convey to outsiders what type of
company you are. This can only be done if the statements are really
meaningful, and not just a lot of mumbo-jumbo buzzwords that senior
management thought was impressive. Frankly, this is where the skilled
facilitator comes in...someone has to tell these folks they are full of it
when they go trolling down that path.
2) you communication the mission / vision thing to employees by living
your passion and modeling the way. There isn't anything you can write or
anything you can say that has more power than what you do. If the senior
management of your organization can agree on where they are going, why
they are going there, and how they intend to get there....and then act in
harmony, the employees will hear it so loud that you will think a sonic
boom went off.
Wishing you great success at a difficult task,
Vana Prewitt
Praxis Learning Systems
www.PraxisLearning.org
--Vana Prewitt <vana@PraxisLearning.org>
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