It's important to know what you don't do
In business, as in life, the thing we say ‘no’ to are as important as the things that we say ‘yes’ to. When you articulate what your organisation is for, you should also help people understand what isn’t part of the business.
There are many things that are definitely worthwhile, but are not part of what your business does. They may even be very closely related to what you do, but they could still be a distraction from your core, value-generating activities. Having a sense of the edges helps your team (and you) steer away from them.
If we lose sight of what we’re at work for, it’s easy to get caught up in things that are, to be blunt, a waste of time. Sure, not every experiment will have the outcome that we hoped. It’s fine to try things that look like they might be valuable, and then later discover that they’re not. What’s important is to stop doing things as soon as we spot that they’re not part of what we do.
You probably also don’t want your employees to pursue success at any cost. There are some principles that you expect people to stick to. For instance, you might want them to treat their colleagues with respect, rather than to tolerate people walking all over each other on the way to increased profit. Or you might want people to have regard to their impact on the planet, even if it means having to do things slightly slower or using more expensive materials.
This is the sort of stuff that is typically covered under the heading of “values”. But I find that a bit wishy-washy. I think it’s better to think of articulating “the rules of the game”. That makes it sound practical. Which it should be.
