​Following are excerpts taken from Best Practices for Creating a Performance-Driven Culture, an eReport published by Impact Achievement Group.

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“The process of ensuring that company values are effective and relevant for driving business goals must be paramount to company leaders. It is critical to understand and evaluate how values are being defined, understood, and used by members of the organization. While vision statements or mission statements have their own importance to a company’s culture, they must not be confused with company value statements.”

 

 

 

“The definition we want for the word value is ‘beliefs or standards.’ To make this clear, we need to further define beliefs and standards. We must understand the specific definition that fits with the root word—in this case, value. The definitional fit for the word beliefs as it pertains to the word value is ‘a creed or doctrine.’ The definition that follows for the word standard is ‘a basis of comparison or an example.’ We can now see that company values are a creed of behavior or some context of comparison or example for people to follow.”

 

 

 

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“But further explanation is needed to fully appreciate the use of values in an organization. As such, we now need a definition for the word creed: we suggest ‘a statement of principles.’ A closer look at the word principle yields ‘a rule of conduct.’ Now it is possible to define company values as they apply to managing an organization.”

 

“A company’s values are a set of guiding principles that provide an example of behavior to members and to which they can routinely compare their own behavior. In short, company values are a code of conduct. A company value centered on employees must speak to the way employees will be treated by other company members.”

 

According to Impact Achievement, a set of organizational values might look like this:

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Our Aspirations

• For our Shareholders: to grow the business and constantly deliver a fair and equitable return on investment.

• For our Customers: to deliver outstanding customer value and experience.

• For our Business Partners: to build cooperative and value-added business relationships.

• For our Employees: to allow opportunities for each person to fulfill their potential and provide a place where people are proud to work.

• For our Community: to make a positive difference in the communities where we do business.

 

Our Beliefs

• Integrity: we never compromise ethical and honest relationships.

• Respect: we treat everyone with dignity and value each person’s contribution.

• Cooperation: we will put the goals of the organization ahead of any individual or functional goals.

• Stewardship: we take personal responsibility to utilize the assets of the company in the best interests of the business.

 

These are our guiding principles that govern our daily actions.

 

 

Following are the Vision Statement, Mission Statement, and Core Values of Excellent Cultures, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in business culture make-overs:

 

 

Vision Statement

Creating High Performance Businesses by Bringing Out the Greatness in People

 

Mission Statement

Excellent Cultures' strategic planning business consultants create extraordinary results in companies around the world through business coaching, consulting and executive services focusing on:

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1. Measuring and Benchmarking Your Culture

2. Securing Free Will Buy-In to Change

3. Changing How Leaders Lead with Business Coaching and Development

4. Realigning Systems & Processes to Sustain the New Culture Growth

 

​​Core Values

Absolute Truth

We are led and staffed by people who are committed to telling it like it is and doing what we say we will do.  We measure and benchmark this by the number of commitments kept and missed and by the clarity of our communications.

Absolute Compassion

As a part of our Excellent Culture, we choose to work and speak from the heart without defensive responses.  Just as importantly, we choose to take the time to listen openly and with sincerity to another’s point of view and are committed to serving those who can benefit from our business coaching and development, knowledge, wisdom, talents and gifts.

Absolute Excellence

We are committed to demonstrating absolute excellence by consistently meeting and exceeding the goals and expectations of each other as well as those of our clients.  We continuously measure and benchmark this by the number of new systems and processes designed to serve our clients that have been deployed and by their effectiveness.

Joy

We at Excellent Cultures choose to be full of people who love what they do and look forward to arriving at work each day because of the passion we have for serving our clients and each other, finding it meaningful, challenging, and fun.

Teamwork

Excellent Cultures Teammates recognize the power of synergy and choose to work, solve challenges and improve collectively and in harmony as this is the source of our most effective tool.

 

And the following is a sample Vision Statement, developed many years ago by Garry House & Associates for a multi-locational client dealer, and then adapted and adopted, as appropriate, by numerous other GH&A and NCM client dealers:

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• To Make Our Dealerships a Place to Work and a “Fun, Easy, and Value-Oriented” Place to Do Business, thus maximizing both ESI and CSI,

 

• Maximize Sales and Gross Profit in Every Operating Depart­ment, within the Limits of Our Facilities and Our Other Resources,

 

• To Establish and Maintain an Expense Structure that Will Ensure a Consistent Profit to Gross Return of 30% or Better,

 

• To Provide for the Maximum Utilization, Security and Growth of the Deal­ership’s Assets,

 

• To Continually Focus on Learning How to “Work Smarter, Not Harder”,

 

• And, In General, To Do Everything Within Our Power, Both Individually and Collectively, to Make Our Deal­erships, and the People that Serve Them So Well, “The Best That We Can Be”.

 

To review other excellent examples of what pro-active dealerships have done to document their respective Vision, Ethics, and Values, we suggest you visit the web sites of the seven public dealership groups and examine what they say about their culture in the Investor Relations section.

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