I regularly get the privilege of welcoming new employees into our company. As part of our orientation and new hire training process, I go over our company history (three generations!) along with a deep dive of our company’s mission, vision, and core values statements.

In an effort to help you think through your own mission, vision, and values, I wanted to share these components with you. I do not expect anyone to take a look at our mission, vision, and core values and immediately decide to copy them because they are so good! However, I do think someone reading this may get some ideas for their own company statements.

Because I have already covered in previous posts the benefits to creating these statements of mission, vision, and core values, I will not review those here. Instead, I will simply communicate and explain these statements for our company.

Mission Statement

The Mike Patton Auto Family seeks to honor God by impacting the lives of our employees, customers, and community.

We believe that God owns this business and we are simply His stewards of it for a season. We want to make sure that all we do in and through the business honors Him. By the same token, we do not want to do anything that will dishonor Him.

We believe that we are here, and that this business exists, for the purpose of impacting people for eternity. We believe that this is our ultimate goal.

Vision Statement

Moving people.

This statement is short, but is full of meaning. First, it obviously references transportation, reflecting the automobile business we have chosen. But it goes much deeper than that.

We want to take employees, customers, and those in the community and we want to “move” them from their current position (or circumstances) to a better place. Regardless of where they are in life (financially, professionally, emotionally, etc.), we want to move them to an improved situation. Regardless of how they interact with us, we want them to be better off having done so.

If you are interested in following my process to create your own mission, vision, and core values, then check out my new ebook – Why Does Your Business Exist?

Now Available on Amazon!!!

Click Here For Ebook!

Core Values

Integrity
We do what is right even when no one is watching.

This core value comes first for a reason. Without integrity, we will not have the impact that we desire. We take this very seriously. We will extend grace when it comes to mistakes and errors, giving people a chance to grow and improve in their jobs. We are not as tolerant of violations in this area. We need to know we can trust our coworkers without question.

Excellence
We are constantly redefining our goals, expectations, boundaries, and potential.

Our team’s talents and performance vary from person to person. That is normal. We simply believe that regardless of your talent or performance today, you should want to be better tomorrow. We want teammates that are constantly striving to learn and grow, improving every day!

Employee Development
We strive to create an atmosphere that inspires and enables people to reach their full potential.

As a company, we want to meet our employees where they are as they strive for excellence. Our goal is to provide the resources and inspiration required to “move” them forward on their path. Sometimes this means they advance within our company and sometimes it means they move on to other opportunities. Either way, we want to help!

Spiritual Growth
We provide the opportunity for all to know God and make Him known.

No one who works in our company is required to believe what we believe. However, we make it clear early on that God is the owner of our company. Therefore, all that we do centers around Him. This includes many efforts to sow seeds of faith all around through various efforts. We will not force anyone to believe, but they will certainly have opportunities to hear.

Community Impact
We use our talents and treasures to make a difference in those who need it most.

We believe we are part of the community in which we work and therefore have the responsibility to give back to that community. Whether through benevolence or sponsorships, community service or fundraising, we are going to take the time and energy to give to those who need it.

Your Mission, Vision, And Core Values

Hopefully, you have found this helpful as an example of a good set of mission, vision, and core values statements. If you only gleaned one idea from this, I consider it worthwhile.

If you want to take this further and develop your company’s own set of mission, vision, and values statements, you should check out my ebook – Why Does Your Business Exist? A Christian Business Guide to Creating your Mission, Vision, and Values Statements.

It is now available on Amazon! I believe you will find this ebook to be a solid, step-by-step guide to help your team craft meaningful mission, vision, and values statements to use in guiding your company.

Is your company engaged in a strong mission, vision, and core values?

If not, are you ready to revisit this with your leadership?

Do you see the benefits from having a strong mission, vision, and core values?

Photo by ipopba/iStock

Single Greatest Opportunity

Lencioni wrote a book called The Advantage. In this book, he describes what he believes to be the single greatest opportunity for improvement and competitive advantage for today’s organizations, teams, and families. He tells how this opportunity is free and is available to anyone. He also says that this opportunity is virtually untapped in most organizations.

What is this single greatest opportunity? Lencioni says it is “organizational health.”

Organizational Health Defined

Lencioni defines a company that has good organizational health as one that meets the following three criteria:

1. There is minimal politics and confusion.
2. There is a high degree of morale and productivity.
3. There is low turnover among good people.

Brutal Intolerance Around Core Values

While there is certainly too much information in his book to adequately cover here in this post, I do want to touch on one critical element of creating good organizational health. This element is what Lencioni called “a brutal intolerance around the company’s core values.” That is to say that organizationally healthy companies do not tolerate compromise when it comes to their core values. They stand fast.

Core Values Example

Take the example of Southwest Airlines. One of their core values is Humor. They build processes and customer interaction around humor. They hire for it and they inject it throughout their operations. If anyone has ever flown with Southwest, you are aware of this. You just may not have known it is one of their core values.

On a certain flight, one of the flight attendants was running through the pre-flight safety announcements. She made some comment like, “In the event of the need for a water landing, your flight attendant will come by with drinks and towels.” She went on with her funny script and there did not seem to be anything wrong.

Customer Complaint

However, shortly after this flight, CEO Herb Kelleher received a letter from one of the passengers on that flight. She said she was a long-time customer of Southwest Airlines and wanted to voice a complaint about the safety announcements. It was her opinion that the safety of the passengers is nothing to joke about. She let Kelleher know that she felt that she would have to find another airline if that is how Southwest continues to handle safety announcements.

What would you do in this situation? Possibly, you may have written the customer to thank them for their patronage, promising them that your company considers its passengers’ safety a primary concern. Maybe you would have given her a voucher for a discount off of a future flight. Likely, you would have then called someone in training to ask them to tone down the humor when it came to the safety announcements.

Brutal Intolerance

If you would have done any of these things, even close, you would have been a LONG way from what Herb Kelleher did. He did write her a letter. It was not a long letter, though…in fact, it was just three words:

“We’ll miss you.”

What? Is he serious? Isn’t the customer always right? Can he really afford to lose a customer like that?

Evidently, he was serious. Evidently, he understood the incredible power in the core values and he knew it was his job to defend them. Evidently, this strategy works for Southwest in spades! One metric supporting this is their 39 consecutive years of profitability without a loss. Another indicator is that Southwest received 143,143 resumes and only hired 2,188 new Employees in 2010.

Tough Core Values Questions

I have a couple of questions.

Could this strategy work for your company?

What if your company was brutally intolerant when it comes to its core values? What would it look like? What results do you think you would see?

Could it work for you personally?

Take this a step further, what about you personally? As a leader, parent, coach, teacher, etc., what would it look like if you were this committed to your core values…even to the point of death? Would that look like a lunatic? Or would it look more like a true disciple of Jesus?

I promise you I am asking myself the same questions.

Photo by Delpixart / iStock

What if God asked you to do something right then that could potentially wreck your fragile situation? Would obedience be easy for you?

Fragile Situation

Years ago, I had a key, long-term member of our company’s executive leadership team come to me and resign. His reasons were valid and I supported his decision even though I did not want him to leave.

There could have been worse times for this to happen, but it was certain to cause massive change within the organization. I was seriously concerned about the ripple effect it would have on others in the company. I knew I had to tread lightly through the transition to minimize collateral damage.

A Choice To Make

Unfortunately, within days of this news I had to face another, more significant issue which violated one of our core values. This issue, if addressed, had the potential to do tremendous damage to the entire organization – especially in its weakened position! If ignored, there was a good possibility that nothing more would come of it – at least not in the near term.

I prayed about the decision. I sought godly counsel. I wrestled with it from every angle. God’s answer became clear.

The problem was that certain circumstances muddied the picture. Whenever I looked at all that was involved in this picture, I got confused. It was easy to rationalize actually sweeping the whole thing under the rug without many people even knowing it ever happened. That was certainly the easiest thing to do.

Obedience?

I had a clear, but difficult choice between obedience and ignoring the problem altogether.

Based on the feedback I received from godly counsel, the answer was simple. I must address the issue and face it head on. I had sought godly advice and received it. I had prayed about it. The only step remaining was obedience.

Similar Circumstances For Joshua

While the circumstances are not exactly the same, take a look at Joshua 5. The Israelites have just entered the land God had promised them. Unfortunately, it was still enemy territory. They were just miles from Jericho and everyone in that town knew they were coming to attack.

It was at this point that God told Joshua to have ALL the men circumcised! If Joshua followed God’s direction, his army would be incapacitated and completely vulnerable to attack (see Genesis 34). This condition would last for several days. How could he even consider doing this?

Just like me, Joshua found himself in an extremely vulnerable position. God gave him clear instructions. He had the choice between obedience and rebellion.

Choosing Obedience

Joshua chose obedience. God honored that choice.

In my situation, I chose obedience as well.

I truly hated the decision I had to make, but I hated the alternative of ignoring God even more.

God Is Faithful

Now that I am on the other side of the decision, I can promise you that God is faithful when we choose obedience. None of my fears ever materialized. In fact, I found out my team is even stronger than I imagined.

What I really found out (again) is that God honors our faith in Him when we choose obedience. I cannot guarantee I will always choose the right path, but I know I will remember this particular situation for years to come. I encourage you to do the same and see how faithful our God truly is.

I recently read the following quote in Wiersbe’s study on the book of Joshua, called Be Strong.

It has been well said that faith is not believing in spite of evidence but obeying in spite of consequence.

How do you see this quote applying to your situation?

What does it say to you?

Where do you need to choose obedience despite the consequences?

[Original post date was June 28, 2012]

Not A Good Time

As I mentioned in a recent post, a key, long-term member of our company’s leadership team (my inner circle) gave me their resignation. While there is never a good time for this to happen, this announcement came at a particularly bad time for me.

We are less than 60 days away from beginning a total renovation of our Honda dealership facility and this leader was to be one of the key drivers of this project. He was also a leader in ensuring the smooth transition into the temporary location from which we will operate during construction.

We are also just over six months into a new management team under his leadership. This leader has played a critical role in their development. Though the team has shown amazing progress during this six-month period, there is still a distance to go before this team truly realizes their full potential.

As I said, this is not a good time for him to leave.

Employee Development

At the same time, one of our company’s five core values is Employee Development. We describe this core value this way:

We strive to create an atmosphere that inspires and enables people to reach their full potential.

Moving People

In addition to this core value, our Vision statement is “Moving people.” We explain our vision by first pointing out the connection between “moving” and transportation – in our case, selling and servicing automobiles. But the true meaning of this vision applies to the people that come into contact with our business – the stakeholders. These people fall into three categories – employees, customers, and community.

We want anyone, from any of these three categories, that comes into contact with our company to be better off having done so. We want to help “move” them from one position into another, better position as a result of their interaction with us. We want every decision we make to reflect this vision.

Key Leader Resignation

Let’s go back to the leader that has now resigned. When he first told me, he generously offered to work a month’s notice. He was willing to help in the transition in any way I wanted. He explained how this new business opportunity was not one that he sought out, but was simply too good for him to ignore.

As he explained the opportunity, I quickly saw that he was right. I realized that I could never offer him the same chance to reach his full potential in our company as he could reach in this new job. I was disappointed in losing him, but I could not blame him for saying yes to the offer.

Living Out Core Values?

It was at this point that I had a choice. I could get angry and do what the majority of owners would do in our industry – tell him to pack his things and go ahead and exit immediately. I could cut off his compensation and benefits that very day and do only what I was legally bound to do.

OR, I could embrace our core value of Employee Development and our “Moving people” vision. I could congratulate him on his tremendous opportunity and begin laying out a plan that would maximize his effectiveness while he worked his notice, benefiting both of us in the process.

I chose the latter. In fact, I used the opportunity to reinforce our commitment to our core values by going to every department individually and explaining the whole situation. I tried to show, by example, that we are indeed serious about these core values and our vision.

The Results

The results? Well it has not been long enough yet to give a full report, but I can give you some of the immediate benefits…
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1. Other leaders have immediately stepped up to fill in the void caused by his departure

2. Employees have seen we are committed to our core values – “moving” them whether that means they are moving “up” in the company or “out!”

3. Our company’s relationship with this leader is fully intact and will bear fruit by maintaining an open line of communication in the immediate future in case we need help tying up loose ends (or accessing a lost password!).

4. We were able to have a going-away party to show him our appreciation for his contributions and to allow closure to those employees closest to him.

5. I believe his transition into a new job will be easier because we eliminated any stress that could have come from a messy separation.

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As I began listing these immediate benefits, I realized that there are longer-term benefits as well. Here is a short, not exhaustive, list of these benefits…

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6. The remaining leaders in the company will be stronger in the long term due to stepping up their game in the transition and beyond.

7. Other employees may realize we are serious about employee development and our other core values. Hopefully, they will work for similar opportunities in their own career. While some may move “out,” they will be better off having worked here. Still others will move “up” and make us a stronger company as a result.

8. Our ongoing relationship with the departing leader will bear fruit in many other forms as he will be working on cutting-edge ideas and processes in his new job. We will have the inside track access to what he is learning.

9. His future job performance will be better due to the ongoing relationship with our company. We will likely serve as testing grounds for some of his ideas and projects.

10. His personal relationships with some of the employees, hampered while here due to working relationship, will likely blossom without that hindrance.

11. I will maintain a friendship with him. I already look forward to hearing how his new job is going and how he is using the skills and talents God gave him to impact others.

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Have you had similar opportunities to live out your company’s core values?

What would you have done differently?

What benefits did I overlook?

Fragile Situation

Not too long ago, I had a key, long-term member of our company’s executive leadership team come to me and resign. His reasons were valid and I supported his decision though I did not want him to leave.

While there could have been worse times for this to happen, it was certain to cause massive change within the organization. I was seriously concerned about the ripple effect it would have on others in the company. I knew I had to tread lightly through the transition to minimize collateral damage.

A Choice To Make

Unfortunately, within days of this news I had to face another, more significant issue which violated one of our core values. This issue, if addressed, had the potential to do tremendous damage to the entire organization – especially in its weakened position! If ignored, there was a good possibility that nothing more would come of it – at least in the near term.

I prayed about the decision. I sought godly counsel. I wrestled with it from every angle. God’s answer became clear.

The problem was that certain circumstances muddied the picture. Whenever I looked at all that was involved in this picture, I got confused. It was easy to rationalize actually sweeping the whole thing under the rug without many people even knowing it ever happened. That was certainly the easiest thing to do.

Obedience?

I had the choice between obedience and ignoring the problem altogether.

Based on the feedback I received from godly counsel, the answer was simple. I must address the issue and face it head on. I had sought godly advice and received it. I had prayed about it. The only step remaining was obedience.

Similar Circumstances For Joshua

While the circumstances are not exactly the same, take a look at Joshua 5. The Israelites have just entered the land God had promised them. Unfortunately, it was still enemy territory. They were just miles from Jericho and everyone in that town knew they were coming to attack.

It was at this point that God told Joshua to have ALL the men circumcised! If Joshua followed God’s direction, his army would be incapacitated and completely vulnerable to attack (see Genesis 34). This condition would last for several days. How could he even consider doing this?

Just like me, Joshua found himself in an extremely vulnerable position. God gave him clear instructions. He had the choice between obedience and rebellion.

Choosing Obedience

Joshua chose obedience. God honored that choice.

In my situation, I chose obedience as well.

I truly hated the decision I had to make, but I hated the alternative of ignoring God even more.

God Is Faithful

Now that I am on the other side of the decision, I promise you that God is faithful when we choose obedience. None of the fears I had ever materialized. In fact, I found out my team is even stronger than I imagined.

What I really found out (again) is that God honors our faith in Him when we choose obedience. I cannot guarantee I will always choose the right path, but I know I will remember this particular situation for years to come. I encourage you to do the same and see how faithful our God truly is.

I recently read the following quote in Wiersbe’s study on the book of Joshua, called Be Strong.

It has been well said that faith is not believing in spite of evidence but obeying in spite of consequence.

How do you see this quote applying to your situation?

What does it say to you?

Where do you need to choose obedience despite the consequences?