Page 39 - 6484

• Principle 7: Create an innovative system to provide feedback from

results.
• Principle 8: Create a daily operation system, including a new work
structure, new approach to human capabilities and improvement activities.
Vision That Pervades the Organization
A broader definition of visionary leadership suggests that, if many or most of
an organization’s employees understand and identify with the mission and vision,
efficiency will increase because the organization’s members “on the front lines” will
be making decisions fully aligned with the organization’s goals. Efficiency is
achieved with limited hands-on supervision because the mission and vision serve as a
form of cruise control. To make frontline responsibility effective, leadership must
learn to trust workers and give them sufficient opportunities to develop quality
decision-making skills.
The classic case about Johnsonville Sausage, recounted by CEO Ralph Stayer,
documents how that company dramatically improved its fortunes after Stayer shared
responsibility for the mission and vision, and ultimately development of the actual
strategy, with all of his employees. His vision was the quest for an answer to “What
Johnsonville would have to be to sell the most expensive sausage in the industry and
[6]
still have the biggest market share?” Of course, he made other important changes
as well, such as decentralizing decision making and tying individual’s rewards to
company-wide performance, but he initiated them by communicating the
organization’s mission and vision and letting his employees know that he believed
they could make the choices and decisions needed to realize them.
Mission and vision are also relevant to leadership well beyond the impact of
one or several top executives. Even beyond existing employees, various
stakeholders—customers, suppliers, prospective new employees—are visiting
organizations’ Web sites to read their mission and vision statements. In the process,
they are trying to understand what kind of organization they are reading about and
what the organization’s values and ethics are. Ultimately, they are seeking to
determine whether the organization and what it stands for are a good fit for them.
Vision, Mission, and Controlling
Controlling involves ensuring that performance does not deviate from
standards. Controlling consists of three steps: (1) establishing performance standards,
(2) comparing actual performance against standards, and (3) taking corrective action
when necessary. Mission and vision are both directly and indirectly related to all
three steps.
Performance Standards
Recall that mission and vision tell a story about an organization’s purpose and
aspirations. Mission and vision statements are often ambiguous by design because
they are intended to inform the strategy not be the strategy. Nevertheless, those
statements typically provide a general compass heading for the organization and its
employees. For instance, vision may say something about innovativeness, growth, or
firm performance, and the firm will likely have set measurable objectives related to
these. Performance standards often exceed actual performance but, ideally, managers

39