Values are the foundation of culture. A healthy culture has healthy values…but furthermore is one wherein the behaviors, articulated statements – and assumptions – are in alignment.
Assumptions are the subconscious motives for the way we act. We can hold a value for something (example innovation), but our assumptions will lead us in differing directions on the same value.
Example:
I assume that innovation is created through academic knowledge and personal experience…so I facilitate an environment that rewards and encourages individual growth en-route to innovation.
OR
I assume that innovation is created through team interaction, and therefore I facilitate an environment that rewards and encourages team interaction enroute to innovation.
Either way…”sustainable”, should mean the “ability to sustain”. Sustain what? Mission performance enroute to vision. What aspects are important: Financial? Ecological? Social? – All of them.
Why?
No employees…no performance = no arrival at vision
No finances…no performance = no arrival at vision
No earth…no performance = no need to arrive at vision,,,because you won’t exist
This is where “truth” comes in. We can hold assumptions that what we do does not negatively impact finances, other people or the planet…but it does – if – it does…whether we believe it or not.
This is why assumptions need to be probed and challenged. What assumptions are you and your team holding (individually)? Are they working to achieve the value that you have articulated…and are they sustainable?
