Key words, Key thoughts for Kūlia i ka nu‘u

How do you make a value of the month yours?

As I alluded to in my last post on Talking Story, I decided I’d get some help by adopting Jim Collins as my “mentor in a book” this month. I’m reading the articles on his website one by one, studying them slowly, savoring them. I’m reading Good to Great again, and listening to it on audio at the same time (whenever I’m in my car) remembering anew why I was so crazy about his book the first time around.

One of the things Collins says is,

“Executives spend too much time drafting, wordsmithing, and redrafting vision statements, mission statements, values statements, purpose statement, aspiration statements, and so on. They spend nowhere near enough time trying to align their organizations with the values and visions already in place.”

He further explains,

“Creating alignment [with your timeless unchanging core values] is a two-part process. The first is identifying and correcting misalignments. The second is creating new alignments, or what I call ‘mechanisms with teeth.’”

Hurrah! I so love it when the gurus agree with me! Creating visions is fun for me, and crafting personal mission statements with people is mentoring in ‘Imi ola (seeking one’s best possible life), however, it is in the strategic planning that we get to ho‘o— make things happen! And your strategic planning we have spoken of this month, must be in alignment with your core values.

In Managing with Aloha as a work philosophy, one simple, but effective way we own our values, and bring them in day-to-day alignment with what we do, is by making the “wordsmithing” personal. We make it meaningful in our own language of intention.

So this is what my self talk sounds like right now, this month, for Kūlia i ka nu‘u:

Kūlia, striving. Beyond striving, leading.

I ka nu‘u, for the summit. For the highest place I can reach.

For Excellence. For Greatness. NO mediocrity.

Leading with excellence, striving for greatness.

These are my key words and key thoughts this month in making Kūlia i ka nu‘u about me and about what I do, i.e. my walk. They are my Language of Intention.

They have caused me to think about a few questions too. I wrote about them this weekend on the blog Synergy, and I’ll share the link with you at the end of this post. However before you click over there, I encourage you to go through the same process in your Jumpstart:

Choose your own Key Words and Key Thoughts for Kūlia i ka nu‘u.

As a great manager and inspiring leader, they should be words you are comfortable with speaking out loud; they must connect to those strategic concepts you want to lead your own people with.

Take the time to do that now. Just as you articulated Aloha last month, be sure you have done so for Kūlia i ka nu‘u too. Verbalize your own language of intention.

When you are finished, you can find my blog Synergy article here:
“Great Leading” means what, exactly?

--------------------Tracking MWA Jumpstart:

NEXT JUMP: Jumpstart for April, or more for March?

BACK TO THE LAST JUMP: Connecting Kūlia i ka nu‘u with Mālama

Comments

[James Shewmaker]

The problem with so many mission statements and vision statements is that they are never fully IMPLEMENTED.

In my Cohesive Integrity coaching, I identify four places in the intention/execution process where roadblocks (what I call disconnects) can occur. Those four places are in between each of the five steps of the intention execution process. However, these four opportunities for disconnects are in a single individual's life.

When you then begin working with teams and organizations, you not only have the potential for disconnects in each participant's involvement but also in the team's execution of its mission.

An Illustration: One retail chain based out of Oklahoma and owned by a family pays for Character development materials to be mailed to each store in their chain. Unfortunately, there is little or no evaluation by the owners as to whether the Regional Managers, the District Managers and the Store Managers outside of Oklahoma are attempting to create an environment within their own sphere of influence which is congruent with the professed message of the Mission Statements and Values Statements of the Home Office.

So if the Mission Statements and Vision Statements are not implemented and if there is no evaluation of whether "execution" is occurring, they serve NO USEFUL purpose. However, if they are being implemented and if the longevity of your participation within the organization is dependent upon how aligned you are with these statements then they serve both as a compass and a rudder for the organization.

[Steve Sherlock]

Jim, I like your idea of the disconnects occuring in those four places. I have seen this occur. The connection is not deliberately made, or personally made, hence the disconnect and ineffectiveness.

I think the "great" manager will make those connections, tie the overall vision to the individual objectives, make the personal connection. I have seen this happen to, although less often.

[Rosa Say]

Thanks so much James and Steve; we are very much in agreement.

James your example is precisely what Collins talks about, and why I was very excited about equipping everyone in the Jumpstart program early on, with the study we did on Talking Story last month with Laurence Haughton’s book, so aptly named, *It’s Not What You Say … It’s What You Do.* We need to work on a) our value alignment, and b) our follow through continually, for I absolutely agree that when all is said and done, we have to execute well, and in a manner which sits well with our personal sense of integrity.

The great manager that Steve also refers to, is he or she who works within their own circle of influence to bring about value alignment each and every day with the people and variables which are in their control —Steve, as you point out so well, they “make the personal connection.” They don’t wait for “corporate” or their executives to tell them what to do; they capitalize on the talent they have within their people, they optimize their present resources, and they GET TO WORK.

Our reality is we start right here right now, one action at a time, with what we can do, and can do well. Last month we worked on doing this with Aloha as our target value alignment, this month we are tackling Kūlia i ka nu‘u. To rally the troops, managers and leaders have to be able to explain their intention first and foremost and with clarity, so those potential disconnects James talks about can be avoided.

One of the things I think was so fascinating about the data that Jim Collins & his team collected for *Good to Great,* was in their findings that some of the “greats” actually had no formal vision or mission at all — at least nothing trumpeted as such. However everyone in those great companies knew precisely what they were aiming for, and how they needed to systematically make it happen. One very significant thing they had in common was a wealth of both great management and great leadership to drive effective action and successful execution at all levels of their organizations. Creating that kind of workplace culture is what MWA is all about!