Our Mission, Vision, & Values – What sets our recruiting firm apart | Lucas Group
Why Lucas Group? A CEO’s Open Letter to Job-Seekers & Recruiters Alike
2020 marked Lucas Group’s 50th anniversary – an impressive feat as less than 12% of firms make it to this milestone. Coming in as only the 3rd CEO in Lucas Group’s history, I wanted to provide a guide for the next 50 years by clearly defining our mission, vision, and values (MVV). I strongly believe this is the greatest contribution I can make during my tenure as CEO.
Laying the Foundation
I wanted our new MVV to be more than just another corporate exercise managed by external consultants or decided by a small group hidden away from the full firm. Employees thrive when empowered to create a world they want to be a part of, and their perspectives need to be reflected in the MVV. From my experience, this collaborative approach results in ownership in bringing them to life.
Our approach included facilitating focus groups across field management, deploying a firm-wide employee survey, a corporate focus group and multiple field focus groups including associates at all levels and all members of the CEO roundtable, a group made up of our “Platinum Elite” performers. By starting with a completely blank slate, participants were encouraged to think about what they wanted Lucas Group’s future to be.
In one exercise, employees wrote a press release as if it were published 10 years in the future. They answered questions including: Where would Lucas Group be in the market? What would others think about our business? What would we be announcing as our latest achievement?
From these exercises, 56 different MVV statements emerged – and that’s when the real work began.
Mission, Vision, and Values: Bringing Lucas Group to Life
Creating a clear vision is critical. It’s our “why,” why we exist and the future we hope to create. Putting that in one statement is challenging, especially since we wanted a clean, brief statement that would be powerful and easily remembered.
One theme that strongly emerged was the importance of making a meaningful impact on people’s lives combined with a sense of pride in our work. Words like “professional,” “collaborative,” “integrity,” “driven,” “consultative,” and “forward-thinking” appeared repeatedly in the initial research, informing our direction.
The statement we created captures our desire to impact each other, our clients and candidates, and our communities:
Vision: To be The Team that transforms lives through meaningful connections.
If our vision statement describes our future, our mission statement is how we’re creating it and serves as the guiding principle that keeps us focused on that goal every day. I’m excited we came up with one that reflects our personal approach to what we do:
Mission: We positively impact businesses and careers one conversation at a time.
Together, the mission and vision statements define Lucas Group’s overall purpose.
Our values support our vision and mission while shaping our culture. They’re an unwavering guide defining who we are, what we believe, how we act, respond and approach our work:
Honorable
Lucas Group employees conduct their jobs with integrity, trust and respect, and in a professional, genuine and accountable manner. We strive to be fair and humble; honest, consistent and transparent; and always do the right thing. This value pays respect to our firm’s origins as a business connecting veterans, who honorably served our country, with civilian career opportunities.
Inclusive
We have a commitment to advocate for diversity; to be open to all thoughts and perspectives; to engage and strengthen all communities that we serve; to treat everyone equitably and consistently; and to create equal development opportunities. Whether you’ve been at Lucas Group for two days or 25 years, there’s an equal opportunity to advance your career and thrive while considering the larger world around us.
Collaborative
We win as a team. We aren’t satisfied with just succeeding as individuals; we must also support our coworkers, clients and candidate’s success and recognize their achievements. We encourage feedback from all that we serve. It’s important for us to share what we’re learning and provide mentorship to those looking for personal development.
Driven
Someone without drive will find it hard to succeed at Lucas Group. When we’re presented with an opportunity or challenge, we act quickly to work toward a solution. We aren’t discouraged when a plan falls through; we find another way. And when we achieve success, we take time to celebrate it.
Innovative
You won’t find us resting on that familiar saying, “… because we’ve always done it that way.” We are curious about how things work and work to improve our processes and approach. Our employees embrace purposeful change and collaborate to provide creative, efficient solutions for all constituencies that we serve.
The Future of Lucas Group
I launched our new Mission, Vision, and Values with the team at our year-end meeting so they could see – and celebrate – what they created. The entire firm put a lot of work and much thought into our MVV.
We are excited to integrate our MVV into every aspect of how we work and interact while we celebrate our people as they exemplify these values on a daily basis.
This solid foundation shapes our near future and guides Lucas Group into the next 50 years. I am proud to be a part of the journey.