Communicate the vision
A good vision that has been developed thoroughly won’t help a
company meet goals unless it is communicated properly to employees. Employees are the key to making a vision successful, so they
need to know what the vision is and the steps they need to take to
help reach it.
Anderson started with a brochure that each new employee receives
that explains the vision and its different components, and he also
meets with new employees during orientation to go over it. These
meetings take place for every employee in the organization, no matter their job or rank, and Anderson presents that same message to
them at the same time, trying to connect the importance of their job
to Cincinnati Children’s vision.
“I stress some of the important characteristics that reflect the
thinking behind it with a view toward getting them aligned and on
board in that earliest stage,” he says. “I do try to make sure that
everybody understands that we’re all in this together. Each of our
jobs needs to be done at a high level in order for others of us to do
our jobs at a high level and where one piece falls short, it’ll have an
adverse effect on other pieces.”
The employee discussions are also a way for Anderson to show
his commitment to the vision.
“When I talk about it, I try to act in a way that is fully consistent with
those goals so that there aren’t any sort of inconsistent behaviors
from me that undermine the credibility of what we’re saying,” he says.
“I try to use every tool that occurs to me to reinforce the importance
of the vision and the entirely realistic expectation that we can achieve
together extraordinary results.”
Having employees understand the vision is not enough. You
have to work through the organizational structure and have conversations with employees about their exact role and responsibility in the vision. Anderson says you can also connect an
employee incentive plan to the goals so there is reinforcement for
reaching those goals.
Once employees know their role, you have to hold them accountable for getting their work done toward achieving that goal.
“Then there’s continuing conversation and engagement through
the year on progress against either the goals specifically set forth in
the incentive plan or other activities that are being undertaken that
will arise during the year or are longer term and might not be in the
incentive goals.”
While most employees do become engaged and understand the
plan after communicating it to them through various means, sometimes it doesn’t work out that well. Anderson says that if employees
simply cannot become engaged with the plan, you need to work
with them to move on to do something else, either inside or outside
the organization.
“Then there’s basically no question but that these important goals
will get done — who actually does them we’re flexible about, but
everyone needs to know and do that,” he says.
Cincinnati Children’s has been pursuing its vision for more than 10
years and has seen numerous successes. The hospital has opened
several new buildings, added 720 net new employees each year for
the past 11 years to reach 10,948 today and had an impact on health
services in the Greater Cincinnati area.
“We’re a different organization than we were when we started,”
Anderson says. “It’s hard to put it into words but I would say there’s
a vitality that you can feel. We have embraced innovation and
improvement. We know that we have the will, expertise and
resources to take on big challenges. It’s exciting to be part of this.”
A vision can help you along the path for the future and help you
achieve the results that you want. Anderson says you just need to get
out and start planning and pursuing it.
“You have to start before you’re ready and the process is pretty
simple, pretty clear cut,” he says. “People should be bolder and
more energized to follow this relatively simple process and get to
common ground that you’re entitled to pursue in every aspect of the
organization and then reward and celebrate the successes and communicate that.”
HOW TO REACH: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, (513) 636-4200 or www.cincinnatichildrens.org
