Apologies – but I’m starting with a rant !

Vision and values.  I don’t like either word in the context of strategy definition, and more particularly engagement of the crew.  Yes - I accept that both are conventional, and convention is comforting if you don’t understand essence.  However, in my experience neither is sufficiently “street” to mean much to the folks at the coal face, nor secure their engagement.  The vocabulary gets in the way.  I’ve not come to this conclusion lightly.  It has arisen from experience of working on strategy design scopes with hundreds of organsations, at various stages in their development journey, and active across every sector I can think of.

If I’m honest I didn’t get the importance of language to begin with.  I’m an engineer and conditioned to accept industry definitions.  However, a large volume of feedback has caused me to challenge the appropriateness of defaulting to conventional vocabulary.  What’s the point of using language that at best people don’t get, and at worst is a turn-off.  So if it ain’t “vision” and “values”, what’s the alternative ?

“Vision” is, in my view, better expressed as “Ambition”.  Ambition is aspirational and motivational, and much more compelling than some vague sense of the future (which the word “vision” provokes in my mind – and more importantly that of many engaged in organisations with which I have worked).  Ambition connects better to a sense of achievement, and the opportunity to achieve is what many aspire to.

I’ve found that, for many, the word “values” is even more difficult to connect to than “vision”.  My preference is to replace this with the word “behaviour”.  Behaviour is more fundamental, and in my opinion, better captures the message that it is about how people conduct themselves in doing what they do.

Whether you agree with my experience or otherwise, the real point in all of this is that organisations have the right to express themselves however they wish to.  There is undoubtedly benefit in having a shared sense of what the organisations seeks to achieve, and of how its people will act in the process of pursuing that achievement.  Indeed, unity on these issues is essential to success.  However, benefit will only be realised if there is shared understanding of what the words mean.

Cascade – RML’s strategy implementation management platform - provides users with complete control over vocabulary used within their strategy definition.

Words are powerful.  Words are personal.  Words convey meaning (or not, if they are not understood).

Choose Cascade and secure your right to use the words that are meaningful to you.