Chapter 19 All-Weather Case: Preparing and Presenting All-Weather's Values Statement
All-Weather’s president has asked Doug to prepare a values statement for the company. “I don’t want this statement to be just printed, laminated, framed, and hung in an office, or included in an employee manual to be only occasionally noticed,” the president says, answering Doug’s question about what kind of statement he was looking for. “I want this statement to be fully understood, appreciated, and internalized by our employees.”
“Shouldn’t marketing be doing this, Mark?” Doug says, reminding Mark Chambers, his boss and All- Weather’s president, of his former department when he was VP of marketing.
“No, Doug, I believe that it’s HR’s call,” Mark says, pausing a moment, “because HR has a better pulse on the values of all our employees. However, I do have five keywords around which I want the statement to be built. They are efficiency, strength, beauty, perfection, and unity. To give you an example of how these words could be combined for a values statement, we might say, for example, that I see All-Weather as an energy-efficient company that builds strong and beautiful products through perfect application of human and material resources and unity across different functions and departments.”
“There, that’s a good one right there,” Doug says, trying to mentally repeat the statement coined by Mark.
“It’s too lengthy and a bit pedantic, Doug,” Mark says, looking at the writing pad on which he has scribbled the statement. “I want a values statement that our employees can instantly relate to and remember. It need not be, probably should not be, a long sentence. It could take the form of a visual, along with a caption; or it could cleverly employ metaphors as words and images. Whatever form it takes, let the values statement be a crisp, creative, and memorable reminder of what we as a company believe in.”
“That’s some task, Mark,” Doug says, feeling delighted at having been chosen to work on the statement yet putting the company’s interests first. “Shouldn’t we be turning to professionals?”
“Good point, Doug,” Mark says, appreciating Doug’s sentiments, “but they wouldn’t understand us as well as we understand ourselves.”
“I see your point,” Doug says, getting up. “We’ll do our best.”
“I’m confident of that,” Mark says, shaking Doug’s hand.
After returning to his office, Doug summons Caleb, Erin, and Miguel to discuss how to go about preparing the company's values statement. The three managers propose that two of their deputies—Tanner and Linda—work on the task together, a recommendation that Doug approves. It's also decided that Tanner and Linda will give a Power-
Point presentation (or some other form of presentation that they think is suitable) displaying the values statement.
Based on your reading of Chapter 19, information presented above, and your knowledge of All-Weather, help Tanner and Linda prepare All-Weather's values statement. Feel free to be creative with visuals and metaphors as you prepare the values statement. Then, prepare a brief presentation that communicates the statement to All-Weather's employees. You may use PowerPoint or some other presentation strategy that you think effectively communicates the statement.