A rule of thirds

There are three must-haves for enterprises to succeed, teaches Peter Drucker. One, common goals. Two, shared values. Three, a commitment thereto. “Without such commitment there is no enterprise; there is only a mob,” he said. 

Common goals refer to simple, clear, and unifying objectives. That which the enterprise seeks to achieve and constantly reaffirms; that which everyone within the organization can visualize. 

Shared values, meanwhile, refer to fundamental beliefs, concepts, and principles that underlie the organization’s culture and guide the decision of its workers, leaders, managers, and owners. 

“Each member of the enterprise contributes something different, but they must all contribute toward a common goal.” 
― Peter F. Drucker, The Essential Drucker

Inspire

I learned about common goals and shared values in my Alma Mater and former employer — as officer in charge for external affairs — the University of San Jose-Recoletos.

Our goal was to provide community-oriented Christian education and our core values were Interiority, Nationalism, Service, Pioneerism, Integrity, Reliability, and Excellence. Neatly put, to Inspire. 

The common goal seemed vague at first. Luckily I found guidance in how the few Agustinian Recollects that I knew visualized the role of the school vis-a-vis the larger community of people they wanted to form. 

Tuition is high, for example, but rationalized at something our segment of the community — mid to low middle class income earners — can afford. And maximized to give the most back to students in terms of instruction, technology, and ambiance; though there will always be those who’d say the school should give more.

As far as core values are concerned, the institution has not been remiss in stating what these are.  

But, for sure, there would be no harm for agents to desire to communicate better what it all means and to want to further embody its essence. 

“Every enterprise is a learning and teaching institution. Training and development must be built into it on all levels—training and development that never stop.” 
― Peter F. Drucker, The Essential Drucker

Frontline

Common goals, shared values, and a commitment thereto are essential to the functioning of an organization because managers can’t always be there and because it is often rank-and-file people who face stakeholders and take care of stakeholder concerns in the frontline.  

Common goals, shared values, and a commitment thereto guide rank-and-file people in making those little everyday frontline decisions that affect stakeholder perception of the organization as a whole. 

And if we adhere to Drucker’s tenet — ”There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.” — a stakeholder’s continuing positive perception of the organization is essential, vital; a consummation devoutly to be wished. 

In action

At a recent visit, I accompanied a significant other in securing her clearance for the purpose of processing her application for grad-school graduation; something that can only be done after the defence and then revision, approval, and bookbinding of a required research paper — the three concluding steps accomplished Friday, March 1, the eve of the university-set application deadline.  

The document required the signature of several persons including one lay and one religious administrator who were both not there when visited during office hours, and the facsimile signature of the representative of the alumni association, a non-academic and not-organic-to-the-school entity. 

Scholars from the Recoleto Educational Assistance for Deserving Students or Reads front-line all the university’s sub offices. And the ones led by the unavailable lay and religious administrators mentioned above were no exception. 

At first, my companion was given the standard ‘the-head-is-not-here’ response, followed by the ‘we-don’t-know-when-he’ll-be-back’ rejoinder, and the ‘we’re-sorry-about-that’ apologia when asked what her options were. 

Later on, when robustly reminded of the core values, particularly service, reliability and excellence, calls were made, papers where shuffled, decisions were reached, and facsimile signatures were produced. 

At the alumni association office, where a part-time employee cum alumni association scholar mans the table, the facsimile signature was withheld because my companion was not able to bring a 2×2 ID photo, with which they could update their own files.

This even though my companion was (1) an existing member of the alumni association and had been so since 2013, and (2) a graduate school student with an active file with (a) the safety and security department, (b) the university registrar, and (c) the university accounting office, all within a few meters from the alumni association office, and (d) in the graduate school department, located just above the alumni office. 

Being not organic to the school, firm reminders of the school’s core values did not suffice. 

Thankfully, the alumni association’s secretary, upon hearing of the situation, intervened with a pioneering solution: take a mobile phone photo of the applicant and update the file. 

Pioneerism, another core value.