Soft Skills

Communicating an organisation’s vision

Smita Sah talks about how an organisation can make its corporate vision relevant to the last employee

Most companies have a vision statement. Speak to a few employees of an organisation randomly about the relevance of the corporate vision to them and, chances are, you will draw a blank. What then is the purpose of a vision statement that means something to only a handful of top management people? Commu-nicating and implementing that vision is as important. A vision on the wall that is not implemented is suicidal for an organisation as it creates expectations that lead to cynicism if they are not met.

Communicating the corporate vision gives purpose and meaning to the work that people do. The major difference between a company with a vision statement and a company with a clear sense of vision is that the latter will have employees who have very strong alignment with the organisation’s core values. This alignment is extremely important nowadays when retaining talent is as important as retaining customers. How then does one ensure this critical alignment?

Vision by definition is creating a compelling image of the future. Leaders should be committed to this idea and inspire others in the organisation to align their goals with this dream. Vision should be challenging. The vision should be a part of the organisation folklore. It is up to the leaders to build excitement around the imagery of the vision. An organisation should ensure the following if it is serious about translating its vision to something meaningful for each of its employees:

• Make sure the vision is understood;
• Ensure commitment to the vision rather than compliance;
• Remind employees how their efforts make a difference for the company in its pursuit of its vision;
• Make links between their work and the company vision so that they can see how they fit into the bigger picture;
• Make leadership teams accountable for implementation of the vision;
• Provide for interim feedback;
• Analyse any deviations from the vision at regular intervals;
• Reinforce the leadership team’s commitment to the vision;
• Remember that the power of a plan is in its implementation;
• Review and celebrate big and small successes on the way to achieving the vision.

One of the most powerful ways of communicating the vision to employees is to develop a strong team spirit through a set of core values. Define core values or corporate values that signify the essence of your organisation’s vision. Some of the core values that can be encouraged could be innovation, leadership, persistence, customer-orientation, etc. There should be some mechanism within the organisation that is compelling enough for people to commit themselves to a set of shared values. For example, if an employee demonstrates persistence in his efforts braving many odds, it should be highlighted throughout the company. Organis-ations should encourage a powerful story-sharing culture, where the speed of sharing should be highly accelerated and the underlying value highlighted.

The process of communicating the organisation vision should begin early. Encourage human resources staff to include their vision in the recruiting process. It should be an integral part of new hire orientation. New employees should be briefed about the origin of the vision and what is being done to achieve it. Have someone from the top paint a compelling picture of the company’s vision to help new employees feel like they’ve joined a winning team. Apart from being technically and logistically oriented, the new hire orientation programme should be inspirational and motivational. If these requirements are ignored, an organisation stands to lose a golden opportunity to engage the hearts and souls of its new hires.

Leaders within the organisation need to play a pivotal role in communicating the vision to employees at large. In fact, this is the basic task of the leadership. And a leader’s work does not end there; he needs to ‘walk the talk’. For the vision to have credibility, leaders should not only say they believe in the vision; it should be manifest in their decisions and actions. When employees see that the organisation is committed to a vision, it generates enthusiasm about the course the organisation is following and increases the commitment of people towards achieving that vision.

Once you’ve communicated your vision, how do you go about implementing it? This is where strategic planning comes in. A clear vision should be followed by a strategic direction. Leaders must go beyond setting the vision; they must communicate and focus employees’ mindsets towards the company. Strategic planning should entail the following:

• Identify opportunities to move ahead;
• Identify roadblocks;
• Identify the supporting structures needed;
• Develop bridging strategies that lead from present to the desired future;
• Develop specific plans and measurable goals for action;
• Provide for a closed loop feedback mechanism;
• Commit to live the vision through every action.

Leaders should continuously remind their team members how their efforts are making a difference to the company in its pursuit of its vision. They should ensure that the vision means something to every employee in the organisation. For example, there could be a situation where a junior software programmer thinks, “I am a programmer here and my job is to write codes.” A leader can successfully transform that thought process to one where the same employee says, “I am part of an organisation that is committed to becoming the world leader in providing quality software solutions to blue chip customers.” Only then the organisation’s vision would have reached the last employee. In effect, the vision has the power to lift employees out of the routine of daily work into a new world full of opportunity and challenge. So go ahead and spread the vision!

Smita Sah is HR Manager at e-Infochips