Be consistent
If you set out down the path to enact a new mission statement and align your employees toward a vision, don’t turn
around the next week or the next month and launch an entirely new plan.
“I don’t want to be a flavor of the week,” Parker says.
Parker faced a challenge in convincing his employees that his
plan would be around for a while after Village Pantry employees had faced a number of different visions and strategies over
the years.
“They’d had lots of different leadership,” Parker says.
“Everybody was the flavor of the day, and there was no consistency. It’s very confusing to your employees. They don’t
know whether what they are doing is right or wrong because it
might change. There is another danger to it. Some people may
not embrace change because they think if they wait it out long
enough, it’s going to change anyway. That’s a real risk.”
Following through on what you say you’re going to do is the
only way to convince employees that you’re being forthright
with your words.
When you have a large company with employees working at
many different locations, it is easy for the message that you
give as the CEO to change by the time it has been passed from
one person to another and then another.
This is where simplicity again becomes critical.
“As you push messages down, there is a chance they can get
convoluted,” Parker says. “When you whisper in somebody’s
ear, by the time it gets to the last person, it’s something totally different. Our business can work that way. That’s why we
try to keep our messages simple and consistent. I would
encourage repetition. You have to say the same thing over
and over and over again, and it will finally start sinking in. It’s
not a one-shot deal. It’s simplicity and consistency.”