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In the winter, when snow and ice would block roads in some remote places of the country, the postmen would not bring the mail there. They couldn’t get there by bike, car or truck. The truck drivers from the newspaper would take the mail with them. They would go to the most remote place, whatever the weather conditions. The newspaper would be delivered always and everywhere. No matter what.
I love this story. So much better than: “We have a culture dedicated to 100% guaranteed deliveries being resilient towards disturbances caused by external conditions.”
But. When it comes to messing around with culture, some turn into a mix between Michael Jackson and Freddy Mercury.
“We are the best. We are the world. We are the children. We are the champions.”
Ah. The verbal diarrhea fest called “Name That Shared Value“.
Read more about how stories beat statements and what the three I’s mean (Incredible. Insane. Insulting.) in my article on Gantthead.com.
Bas,
This is a shining post. I know that FedExpress uses small planes to deliver parcels in harsh conditions.
Amazingly, you write this post when I am writing a presentation for slideshare entitled “Crafting the Raft”, in which I discuss fire ants tendency to form rafts to avoid sinking. Every single ant has the drive to do so; else it will sink. The interest of the individual ants is to be part of the raft to avoid sinking. The self-interest is to join the group and not stay alone. Shared vision has a value only when it makes the collective survival greater the the single survival. Shared vision will only be shared if it makes the group interest greater then the individual interest.
Thanks! And that is a great presentation! Fantastic examples on how common goals and individual goals can be connected! Well done.
I have just published the presentation. The link is
http://www.slideshare.net/hudali15/crafting-the-raft-lessons-for-managers