Strategy documents are full of values. In my view they are often one of the most useless sections. There are only so many ways that an organisation can say we are compassionate, we are authoritative, we are bold, blah blah, blah. I have a simple test – would anybody say the opposite of the values. No charity says we are hard-nosed bastards. So what is the point of the values section. I think it is when the values make it clear how an organisation will behave in practice. When the values make an organisation stand out – particularly so staff and stakeholders know what it means for how the organisation will behave. Three winners in this category: the Cherie Blair Foundation, the Wallich, and Thames Valley Air Ambulance each of who makes clear what their values mean in practice. There are only snips for the Wallich and Cherie Blair Foundation.
You can find the Cherie Blair Foundation strategy here: https://cherieblairfoundation.org/about-us/threeyearstrategy/ and the Wallich strategy here: https://thewallich.com/app/uploads/2020/12/Business-Plan-2020.pdf and Thames Valley Air Ambulance here: https://www.tvairambulance.org.uk/about-us/our-strategy/
