Why Communicating a Vision is Important

I am in the midst of a project with a large manufacturing company and they are really struggling with the performance of their overall plant output. Right now there is a lot if finger pointing, blaming and "every man for himself" behavior coming from the executive team. We asked the president "What is it that you really want for your company? How do you see the organization functioning a year from now?" There was a long pause. "That's a good question." was his reply.





After much discussion with the president and his senior team we discovered the major issue keeping them from reaching their goals is that no one really knows where they are going and why they are going there! Every department head has a different idea of what is important and a different understanding of why their department exists.



Think of it this way: the department heads are all part of a flash mob and each one of them have a different dance routine. When the mucis plays and the dance begins everyone is starting on a different foot and moving in different directions. The result is chaos!!!!


Here are some tips for communicating vision:


Communicate it often and well- Never under estimate how many time you need to tell people what the future is going to look like. It can never be said too many times. Use a variety of mediums to spread the message and keep it visible all the time.

Be very clear and keep it simple- Employ the principle "less is more" when describing the future. Make it brief but vivid. Use powerful words that are descriptive and can not be misunderstood. Use present tense language, word the vision as though it has already been accomplished.

Be Consistent- Be diligent that the vision doesn't change from day to day, unless there really has been a change. Vision should be the same today, tomorrow, next week and until we arrive. People can be easily confused about their contribution when the vision sounds different each time they hear it.

Use other leaders to help communicate the vision- Every member of the leadership team must know, understand and be able to articulate the vision to others. There is strength in numbers. Alignment at the top insures understanding at the bottom. Get the entire executive team involved with communicating the vision to the masses.


Communicate even small wins- Always share the progress, no matter how small, with the entire organization. Celebrating success is the best way to encourage and motivate a team. Be a cheerleader to the team, lavish them with praise.


Even if you are not the president of your organization, if you want to move a group of people in a given direction to achieve a given goal you have to communicate a vision.

When email doesn't work!

So here is a lesson about email that we can all learn from and appreciate!

6 months ago I was very frustrated about the inaccuracy of how my sales numbers were being reported to our corporate offices. At that time I went to our office manager who was doing the reporting and brought it to her attention in a very friendly manner. She agreed to look in to it and get it resolved.

After about 2 months, I inquired again because nothing had changed since our last conversation. Once again she said she would look into it. At this point I also brought it to the attention of our local franchise owner, who we both report to.

After 2 more months I inquired a third time via email including the owner on the email. This time there was no response at all. No reply to the email nothing. So now I am at a point of sheer frustration and anger.

So........I decide to send another email, again icluding our boss. Since my mental state was less than ideal for this situation I knew I needed to be very careful with how I worded the email; so I carefully chose my words and sent the email off.

In a flash came back a scathing response from my office manager and to make matters worse she also copied our boss as well. (After all, I copied him on the original email.......another mistake on my behalf) Needless to say, I didn't help my situation any with the email, in fact I made it worse!!

So what did I learn? Well here it is in a nutshell:

• Always reread your emails and if need be sleep on them before you send them. You will save yourself a lot of grief and hard feelings.
• Don't send an email to do the job of what should be a face to face conversation. Had I picked up the phone or went to her in person, she would not have gotten angry with the way I made the third request for her help.
• There really is no need to copy the boss on emails that throw other people under the bus, it just show a lack of professionalism and judgement. The two of us, as adult human beings should have been able to work this out.

So, what email lessons have you had that the rest of us can learn from?

Sell. Sell? Sell!

The sales "game"....well that's only for sales people, right?! Wrong! No matter what we do as a profession, no matter what level education we have or what degree we hold, no matter who we interact with, we are always selling.

Imagine this.....I want my 6 year old to go to bed early because tomorrow is a big day. What do I have to do? Sell him on why it's a good idea.

I want my boss to give me the promotion and not the other guy. What do I have to do? (All things being equal between you and the other guy.) Sell her on why you are the better choice.

I want my cross functional partner to embrace a new concept for completing projects. What do I have to do? Sell him on why my way is a better way.

I want my spouse to take out the trash without me having to nag at him. What do I have to do? Sell him on why he should just do it without me asking.

I want my coworker to carry their weight and quit putting the burden on the rest of the team.
What do I have to do? Sell her on how her productivity is hurting the project.

In a nut shell, if we have any hope of getting others to cooperate with us we have to help them see that our idea and way of thinking is good for them.

Here is the key to the sales "game"; if I can help you see that you have an urgent need and then show you how I can satisfy that urgent need you will readily hop on board with my solution.

You see people will only do things for their own reason...not mine, not yours, not the companies but for their own reasons.

I once tried to get my boss to pay me a bigger salary for doing virtually the same work I am currently doing. I gave him all my reasons as to why I thought I deserved more money, it made perfectly logical sense to me. Well, the answer I got from my boss was a flat out "No!" So, the next conversation I had with him, I outlined how he was to benefit from having me do my same job with more money, I even added a few extra responsibilities I could take on to make it more attractive to him. So, what do you think happened this time? His response was "You know, I like this idea. I think this will work. Yes, we'll adjust your salary!" You see I tapped into what was important to him. I forgot about what I wanted and talked more about what he wanted.

Here is the one simple principle to live and "sell" by: "ALWAYS talk in terms of the other person's interests!" When you do this, everyone wins!!!

When have you had a win-win outcome with a boss or peer? What did you do to make it turn out that way? Tell us about it, we would love to hear your success!

Leadership in a world that doesn't want to follow!

Over the last few months, I have talked with more and more managers and executives who have commented on the decline in productivity around their workplaces. What is so amazing to me is that some of these managers are clueless as to the reasons why. These managers are both shocked and frustrated over the fact that their employees just won't/don't perform.



What is it that causes employees to tune out, disengage the mind and simply go through the daily motions contributing only the minimal effort required? There are a number of factors that play a role in the degree to which employees are willing to give 100% of themselves, 100% of the time.

• Tough economic times creates stress and worry. Most people have a difficult time controlling stress and ultimately it affects every area of their life. I am told that employees who are left behind after massive layoffs are so concerned about the security of their job they literally fuss and fret over it so much that they are productive for only 1 to 2 hours during an 8 hour shift.
• Lack of alignment to the company vision. Employee must clearly see the direction the organization is heading. When the employee understand how their individual contribution is an important piece in how the company will achieve it's vision they are more willing to give a good effort each day. So when management gives direction there is least resistance from the employee because the employee can see how it helps reach the vision.
• Lack of a personal vision. Companies who don't help employee create a personal vision and development plan for achieving their vision will struggle with employee engagement. 70% of the emerging workforce wants to for an employer who expects employees to pursue on-going training or educational experiences on their own. And 96% of the emerging workforce feel the employee should see career development opportunities on their own and not rely on the company to tell them what they should do. Essentially the employee says "If you are not going to help me advance in my career, I am not happy." Which means they will disengage, become less productive and eventually leave.
• Disconnection between the employee and his/her manager. Gallup reports the number one factor that impacts an employee's level of engagement is the employee/manager relationship. When the manager builds strong relationships with his/her team members it communicates a sense of trust, respect, importance and appreciation to the employee. Out of the top 8 employee retention issues, the manager/employee relationship ranked #2 in order of importance by the employee.

So what is one to do? Companies who truly want to maximize the output they get from their employees can do some very low cost things that will make huge impacts that will ultimately trickle down to the bottom line.

Here are some ideas that will help you keep your employees tuned in and more productive:

1) Walk the talk- Be enthusiastic and fully engaged with your job and your employees. Learn what motivates them, what they want to achieve and why this is important to them.

2) Earn trust, respect and credibility – Fulfill promises, keep confidences and commitments, and act consistently, fairly and rationally. Be authentic and approachable.

3) Play to strengths– Match the right person to the right job. By learning your employees’ strengths and work styles, you can make the best use of their individual and unique talents and skills.

4) Instill a purpose - Instill sense of purpose in your employees. Involve them in projects as fully as possible by communicating the big picture goal. Everyone needs to know that his or her efforts make a difference.

5) Be clear - Set clear and realistic expectations and define expected outcomes. Maintain open lines of communication and “check in” with employees on a regular basis.

6) Listen - Learn to listen empathically, with your eyes, ears and heart. Listen without judgment and listen to understand and connect with your employees. Many times employees just need to vent frustrations without expecting action to be taken. Once they have expressed themselves they feel better and the manager is perceived as interested thus building trust.

Have you found any techniques that work particularly well for you? If so, please share them with the rest of us.

If you would like to learn more about how to develop the skills necessary to fully engage employees check out our Tools of Engagement http://www.pittsburgh.dalecarnegie.com/corporate_solutions.jsp