How important is a shared vision to a company? One that resonates with every person at every level within the organization, and is also felt by every client? Let’s find out by looking at the typical progression and growth of an audiovisual integration company.
Many AV integration companies (and many companies in other industries, too) start small, with three to five people filling a multitude of roles and performing many tasks. These roles and responsibilities often overlap, so the founding members understand each other’s jobs and probably share a common purpose like: “Do whatever it takes to make the customer happy – and do some really cool work while we’re at it.” They know their reason for existence. They don’t have to write it down. Everyone in the organization knows it and measures themselves against it.
Fast forward anywhere from five to 15 years. The company has grown to 50 (maybe even 100) people, and three of the founding members have left. The two remaining founders serve as president and vice president of sales, and they wonder why the other employees don’t always use common sense or place importance on the same things they do.
The challenge here is that the founding members of the company likely didn’t communicate this “common sense” to their employees, nor did they explain the vision or mission of the company, the context for their vision, or how they’d measure themselves going forward. They just assumed that every new employee would automatically “get it” and act accordingly — just like they did when they formed the company. But new employees didn’t act accordingly because they didn’t know what “it” was, nor why they needed to get it.
So why (and how) does an organization create and sustain a viable vision and/or mission?
Reason No. 1: Get on the Same Page
The first reason a company needs to communicate its vision or mission to employees is because it probably already exists by default — whether by intention or omission. Often, the company already has a vision and/or mission, but it’s unstated and different for every employee. All the employees are probably operating with great intentions (“great” being self‐defined), but not coalescing as a group united by the same principles.
Cliques have likely developed, leading to frustration and animosity among people and groups who don’t share the same viewpoints.
Reason No. 2: Encourage Responsible Decision-Making
The second reason is that, by creating and continually communicating a documented vision and/or mission, employees have a common foundation from which to make responsible choices and decisions.
The decision‐criteria boundaries are established. People know the right choices and why they should make them – not the convenient choices, or the popular ones, or the conflict‐averse ones, or the “I-didn’t-know” ones.
They understand the choices that align with the image the company wants to create, both internally and with its customers and suppliers. The difference between a job and a profession is often commensurate with the purpose people attach to their functions. With no shared vision, there’s no shared purpose.
The “how” can be accomplished in a number of ways (executive management team meetings, employee focus groups, representatives from all departments, etc.), but the primary outcome should be something that each employee can be proud of. The goal is for all employees to answer questions in the same way: “Why are we here?” “What do we provide?”
The desired result — a company vision or mission — is viable when it can be measured against the following criteria:
- Can you credibly sell the vision or mission to customers and suppliers, and regularly measure performance against it?
- Do you use the vision or mission as a filter through which all decisions are made?
- Do you continuously reward behavior that aligns with the vision or mission, and correct behavior that does not?
- Does executive management walk the talk, or are they hypocrites?
- Does the vision or mission allow the company to differentiate itself, and does the organization keep objective data to prove it is in alignment?
- Does the vision or mission make people proud to work in the organization?
Many organizations spend a lot of time, money, and energy on building processes, buying software, and training their people on the newest technology. But a majority of them forget to consciously create a framework and foundation for a healthy organizational culture. They don’t have to be world‐changing, but they need to be meaningful. A well‐crafted vision should make employees feel proud to be part of the larger whole, and proud of their contributions toward attaining something bigger than they could achieve themselves. It should also allow people to keep some perspective, keep from becoming petty, and forgive mistakes.
Establishing a vision or mission is the first step to creating a vibrant and healthy company. The only way to fail is to not start.
What can you do differently today? Need guidance? Let us know at answers@navigatemc.com. –Brad Malone, Partner, Navigate Management Consulting