Why Do You Exist and What Do You Stand For?

Posted by Unknown on 9:39 AM with No comments

To identify the organization’s core purpose, try this exercise:
Start with the descriptive statement “We make X products” or “We deliver X services.” Then ask, “Why is that important?” but ask it five times. After five whys, you will find that you’re getting down to the fundamental purpose of the organization. For example, “We make gravel and asphalt products” can be transformed into “We make people’s lives better by improving the quality of man-made structures.”
To identify the organization’s core values:
1.    Push with relentless honesty to define what values are truly central.
2.    If you come up with five or six, start over. Chances are you are confusing core values (which do not change) with operational practices, business strategies, and cultural norms (all open to change).
3.    After you’ve drafted a preliminary list of core values, ask this question about each one: “If the circumstances changed and penalized us for holding this core value, would we still keep it?”
4.    If you can’t honestly answer yes to the above question, then this value is not a core value and should be dropped. After all, if markets change, companies shouldn't change values to match markets. Rather, they should change markets.

Well, I suggest you to identify your organization’s core values now!