One of the most important principals for success of leadership in any organization is clarity of one’s vision for the enterprise, how to bring it to life for your employees and what part they play in that journey. This post is not really about the process of creating a Vision Statement, because I assume you have already done that. This is more about reassuring your employees YOU know where to go, what it looks like when you get there and their part in the journey.
Connecting with the Vision of the organization is a critical foundation block to creating employee engagement. But you need to frame it in words, stories and language your colleagues and coworkers understand. Here’s something that will help: make it Clear, make it Positive, and make it Personal (CPP).
*Clear: if your folks walk away from you confused, you missed your target; discuss it in a way they feel, hear, touch and taste and use simple words. Speaking to your vision should take no more than a couple of minutes or you will lose your audience.
*Positive: it must be inspirational and forward thinking! It should be the compass that points true north and a rallying point for all.
*Personal: here’s the secret in the sauce. Make it mean something to them, personally! Explain their role, or better yet, let them explain their role in achieving the Vision. Employees become more engaged when they see themselves critical to the team, essential for the achievement of a goal and see themselves part of a bigger picture.
This is not hard stuff, except one major caveat: every manager, leader and supervisor must be able to do the same as well. It is not the chief executive or top management that spends time on the front lines, it is the supervisors and managers. Without their buy in and their ability to “CPP” the vision, your vision will always be blurred.