Page 184 - Retaining Top Employees

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172 Retaining Top Employees

Mission
Representative,
Not Official The first area in which you
Note that it’s your job to rep- must represent the organi-
resent the organization,not necessari- zation is in integrating the
ly to act as an official of the organiza- organization’s mission into
tion.The difference is between power the goals and activities of
and responsibility.You may or may not
your top employees.
be a company official,with the power
That mission may be
to make decisions and set policy,but
you’re always a representative,with written or not, but if the
the responsibility to properly repre- organization has a clear
sent the decisions and policies of the understanding of its overall
organization. goals (which it should!), it’s
imperative that you inte-
grate that mission into your interactions with your top employees.
Otherwise there’s a danger that they may begin slowly drifting
from the organization’s key strategic objectives, resulting eventu-
ally in a sense of “disconnect” between the employees and the
organization. That, as
Mission The goals of an we’ve seen, is one of the
organization,as expressed underlying reasons why top
in the mission statement,usu- performers leave—a sense
ally succinct and with a long-term of irrelevance.
time horizon.
Here’s an example—the mission Values
statement of Peet’s Coffee & Tea: The second area in which
“Growth without compromise: Peet’s
you must represent the
will grow aggressively,providing more organization is in uphold-
customers every day the opportunity
ing the organization’s val-
to enjoy the finest coffee and tea in
the world,shipped fresh within 24 ues (which may or may
hours of order.” not be contained in a val-
ues statement).
It’s clearly important that all employees work in accordance
with the organization’s core values—and the more strongly held
those values are, the more important compliance with them
becomes. Top performers are often individuals with their own
strong core values; the alignment of the employees’ core values