You Can Transform Your Organization

I was talking with a business leader yesterday and he was lamenting about the lack of passion and energy at this organization. He said he wanted to create an engaged and dynamic workplace and had brought his managers together to talk about it, but all to no avail. He told me it was essential to his organization’s success to retain great talent and improve his employee relations but he feared some of his people were so disengaged they were looking for others positions outside his operation. He continued by saying he wanted to improve his bottom line and create a passion for success throughout his organization but he had no idea where to go next.

I told him he could do all of those things with a few careful actions but it would require getting all of his managers on board.

This is summary of what we discussed, based on my experience with transforming an organization from despondent and glum to passionate and engaged.
I told him, “It starts by making sure everyone in the organization knows, understands and realizes they really can bring about positive and lasting change, in fact, that leaders are counting on them to do so. In order to do that they have to see how their job IS connected to the vision, mission and values, and that showing up and making their best contribution makes a difference to the results."

It’s been shown time and again that when senior people closet themselves away developing their organization’s mission, vision and values the people back at the office are raising their eyebrows and muttering.

"What are they up to now?""What a waste of time.""What difference will that make around here?"

The disconnect between the well-intentioned senior leaders who are charting the course for the organization; finding the right words to express their mission, vision and values, and the employees who fill their corporate offices or shop floors, is not a gap - it’s a chasm.

• Yes, your clients will be able to understand your corporate direction, as the information will appear on your web site and show up on corporate materials

• Certainly, if they’ve done their homework, sales people pitching to your company will know what to focus on to reach your ears

But the employees?

True, they will see the signs and read the words; after all they are in the reception area, the boardrooms and meeting rooms.
But is that all that's wanted? Don’t leader's want it to resonate with everyone so that the workplace takes on a new life and energy?

What do those words mean to them? In most cases it means their leaders were off in fantasy land with no connection to the reality of their jobs. It’s the leader's job to change that viewpoint - to bring the words to life – to them – to their jobs.

Most employees will never make the connection between those lofty words - even if they are expressed clearly, using simple straightforward language - to their own jobs. In our experience employees will continue on in their tried and true pattern as if the executive retreat and the work of their leaders, was of little consequence; as if none of it has any relevance to them.

The well-facilitated discussions and final decisions that led to beautifully prepared corporate signs that declare the Mission, Vision and Values will never propel the organization forward as intended, without another crucial step, because it falls far short of what it could accomplish.

The CEO or president could gather employees together to talk about what those words mean for the company and their department - that would be a good start. Drilling down, taking time and opening up the communication lines to help employees understand how their job IS connected to the vision and mission must follow. Finally it’s essential to imbed the actions you expect from each individual into their personal annual performance plans, as this will result in behaviours that support the higher purpose of the organization.

The best results are achieved with a dedicated, strategic, constant ripple-down process.

Each vice-president or senior manager must talk about what the words mean with their managers; they have to ensure those managers know what’s expected of them and that they will be supported as they adjust and change past practices to align more closely with the vision. The managers have to know their performance will be measured against that goal; that actions must follow and that they will be held accountable to make changes.

This strong message will help those same managers encourage others to focus and realign their work to meet the mission and vision. Typically this leads to staff meetings, animated discussions and stronger action plans. It frequently leads to some confusion, perhaps a few disgruntled people, but there will certainly be passionate engagement. When you get employees talking about how they make a difference to the results in their organization they will find creative ways to improve. There’s no doubt that when employees see the link from their job to the corporate mission and vision there is a heightened awareness of the impact of their actions. This in turn drives more effective and meaningful performance reviews, less absenteeism, higher retention, more engagement and a stronger bottom line. So the missing pieces in many organizations are the links that make up the chain from top to bottom.

Words agonized over at retreats and finally placed on plaques must mean something to the employees. Naturally those words resonate with the people who created them, so taking the next steps to make them resonate with the rest of the employees must follow, if they are to have the high-impact they were intended to create.

So, next time you glance at those carefully crafted words, pause to ask yourself did we take the steps to help our employees see those words really do mean something for them?
If not, consider the actions outlined here; they could make a huge difference to your company on many fronts.