“In my last email, I recalled a time when more than a few Board members couldn’t recall the fundamental elements of their Vision statement.
It turns out, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that many more organizations could be ‘flying blind’ in the same way…
A few years ago, Leading Teams (an Australian consulting company) did a survey with over 500 employees.
Amongst other things, the survey touched on their attitudes towards their business’ Vision statement and values.
Here’s what they found…
- Only 20% of Australian employees surveyed believe their company's mission statement and values are inspiring and motivating
- 40% thought that their mission statement can be applied to any company
- 10% thought it was meaningless and irrelevant
Nearly half of all the employees surveyed didn’t know their organization’s Vision statement.
And of those that did remember, approximately 20% felt their Vision statement was just "management speak and buzzwords".
Creating a shared sense of unity and direction, through a well crafted Vision statement, is too important to leave up to chance.”
Over the last few weeks we’ve touched on innovation a few times, so the question is, does your Vision (Purpose) Statement inspire innovation in your organisation? After all, isn’t that one of the key roles of a board?