While getting to know a recent acquaintance we talked about her new job as an executive director of a mid-sized non-profit. Along with the usual steep learning curve, she spoke of a challenge shared by many: friction in supervisory relationships. Specifically, my new friend was concerned about how to manage the negative response a few staff were having to some of her decisions. This is when I asked her about values and goals, and I encourage you to ask yourself these same questions: Does my organization have articulated values? Does it have clear goals identified? If yes, were all staff given the opportunity to participate in developing these?
Articulated and clearly defined values (such as: “Excellence: we maintain a high standard for our organizational outcomes and service-user experience”) and goals (“Organizational capacity and structure supports excellence”) serve to guide every person in their work; they become the lens through which staff and leadership make decisions. When all staff are included in creating the values and goals, they are more invested and more likely to accept and, even, to support them.
Taken together, your decisions can now be made in a landscape where staff know and have a stake in the values and goals for the organization and where decisions - made by them and by you - have consistent and well-considered guideposts from which to be made. Basing your decisions in consistent and shared elements creates a framework and a common ground for you and your staff to reach understanding. Staff are also reassured by the accountability mechanism this framework ensures with regard to choices by leadership. If practiced routinely, decision-making based on values and goals offers long-term benefit to supervisory relationships, team culture, and organizational health.