Dayton Molendorp does not have a final goal in mind that will tell him when he has successfully conveyed his vision for OneAmerica Financial Partners Inc. to his employees.
“I don’t think we ever really arrive at that,” Molendorp says. “Our population is pretty stable, but it turns over and new people join the organization. It’s a constant drumbeat. One of the responsibilities of leadership is to provide clarity and focus and to just keep that in front of every one of our associates.”
When you have 1,500 employees, that’s not always easy to do, says the financial services firm’s chairman, president and CEO. You need to find opportunities to deliver a message that your employees will hear and respond to.
More than just giving a speech, it’s putting yourself in situations where both your words and your actions convey a message to your target audience.
“You don’t go out to involve yourself in the community just to drive your mission and vision,” Molendorp says. “You go out to support things that have value and that will make the community a better place for the employee base and the greater good. In the process of that, you get a platform to represent your organization.”
More than 600 employees volunteer each year to help with the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon. That throng of people delivers a clear message about the company’s commitment to the community.
“But we also think it’s another way for our employees to tie into our mission and our vision and to tie into our brand,” Molendorp says. “Once an employee buys in to that simple vision, they are more effective in lots of ways. They carry the brand. They carry the mission of the organization. They carry the ethos of the organization and that becomes a culture.”
Since it’s those employees who interact with OneAmerica customers more than Molendorp himself, that means he has a better chance at putting his firm’s best foot forward to retain old customers and attract new ones. In recent years, the firm has done a good job of both, hitting $1.1 billion in revenue for 2008.
Here is how Molendorp communicates his vision and gets employees to see the meaning behind it to help drive growth at OneAmerica.
