Have a clear vision
Along with core values, you also need to set a vision that will help
you keep everyone working toward the same goals.
Without a successful vision, you cannot create excitement among
your employees.
“If you don’t have the vision right, you can’t get the sense of purpose
or the focus and delivery from those talented people,” Hay says.
“Without vision, you’re mismanaging the talent you have.”
DunnhumbyUSA’s vision was created as part of the company’s regular review of brand values and position.
“We do it through engaging our employees, leadership and customers to ensure that we’re pointing in a direction that’s right for
them and our business,” Hay says.
Vision is similar to values in that you need to make it core to your
company strategy, understandable and aspiring to your employees,
and tie it to your actions and business plan. Hay says if your vision is
not connected throughout your company, employees and clients will
be able to spot it, causing confusion and problems.
“It has to describe what you’re trying to achieve and inspire your
people,” he says.
It also needs to be kept short. When vision statements are lengthy,
the average employee won’t be able to remember it all and can only
remember parts of it. When that happens, employees all learn different parts and head off in different directions.
As with the values, it’s important to remain consistent in your communication of the vision. If it says one thing one year and something
else the next or if it’s too far-reaching, the vision may be wrong.
“Your vision has to be unifying to get people pointed in the right
direction toward your bigger goal and objectives,” Hay says.
The vision also needs to be relevant so employees know how their
job fits into it.
“If you see the vision and go, ‘I’ve got no idea what my job does
toward that,’ either you haven’t been clear in how you’ve described
that job or your vision is incorrect,” Hay says. “There’s got to be a connection between people’s work every day, where the business is today
and making it clear where you want the business to be tomorrow.”
Getting employees to connect to the vision can be simple, starting
with a written statement that explains how each person fits into the
larger goals.
Hay says you can also set up a performance management system
that will take your vision, break it down into smaller pieces and give
clear goals to the different parts of the organization on how to
achieve that vision.
“These are the six to seven things we are trying to achieve this
year,” Hay says. “As we move through the organization, they get cascaded down. People might not necessarily own all of those, but the
part they own, they know where it fits, and ultimately, it goes back up
to the vision. That ensures a direct connection between everyone’s
focus and targets for the year in what they do and our overall vision.”
