The role of a Sales Leader is to translate the organization's vision, mission and values into a meaningful context that sales teams can relate to and feel excited by.
If this is achieved then the Sales Leader will have created a sales team with a shared mental model. This transforms an ordinary sales team into a high performing one.
For clarity, here is a brief description of the following terms:
An organization's vision is a guiding image of success formed in terms of a huge goal. It is a description in words that conjures up a picture of the organization's destination. A compelling vision will stretch expectations, aspirations, and performance. Without that powerful, attractive, valuable vision, why bother?
A mission statement communicates the essence of an organization to its stakeholders and customers, and failure to clearly state and communicate an organization's mission can have harmful consequences around its purpose.
As Lewis Caroll, through the words of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland says, "If you don't know where you're going, it doesn't matter which way you go."
Guiding principles are the consequence of a mission statement that are intended to inform or shape all subsequent decision-making, which also provides normative criteria allowing policy-makers to accept, reject or modify policy interventions and activities. They are a guiding set of ideas that are articulated, understood and supported by the organization's workforce.
Values are beliefs which the organization's workforce hold in common and endeavor to put into practice. The values guide their performance and the decisions that are taken. Ideally, an individual's personal values will align with the spoken and unspoken values of the organization.
By developing a written statement of the values of the organization, individuals have a chance to contribute to the articulation of these values, as well as to evaluate how well their personal values and motivation match those of the organization.