Clarifying one's vision is a useful starting point for deciding what is most important for the organization—and its employees—to focus on for success. And the result needs to be a compelling purpose that can inspire everyone. “A vision is not just a picture of what could be, it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more,” says Harvard professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter. From that vision, you can shape your unique competitive advantages, that is, those aspects that you have to offer your customers that your competition does not. These advantages represent your strengths in the marketplace that you most need to capitalize on to be successful. The vision and mission then needs to be translated in ways every employee can impact.

This chapter examines examples of how companies bring the mission of the organization alive and keep it in front of employees.

Dolf Kahle, president of screen printer Visual Marketing Systems in Twinsberg, Ohio, believes that simple goals are the best goals. He therefore threw out the existing set of business-buzzword-laden corporate goals and replaced them with three easily understandable goals: better, faster, and cheaper.

Medical products and pharmaceutical manufacturer Johnson & Johnson provides work teams with extensive feedback on how the work they do benefits other parts of the organization. In one example, a chemical engineer in a Tylenol factory can log into a computer system that shows how his plant's output feeds into the entire division's output—and the extent to which the company is brought closer to reaching its quarterly goals. Says Tobias Kuschel, Johnson & Johnson's director of global talent management, “We believe this really creates commitment. Once you're committed, the thinking goes, you work harder and make the company more money.”

Marks & Spencer, a British retailer, has each business area write its commitments on a poster, which is then displayed publicly. It helps encourage ongoing awareness and accountability.

Jeff Rogers, CEO of Job Hunter Pro, a virtual company with team members from Portland, Oregon, to Atlanta, Georgia, says:

If your mission doesn't fit on the back of a matchbook, it's probably too complex. And if your mission can't be immediately articulated by your management team, how do you expect your staff to live and breathe that mission? Clarity and focus are essential.

Our mission is to help people get and stay employed. All of our solutions have this very specific focus. An example of a key strategy that supports our mission is to bring outplacement services to the masses. To accomplish our mission, I've fostered a culture of socially responsible HR programs. We are serious about helping displaced employees get reemployed. It's a win-win for employers and employees. Since our team is composed mostly of like-minded HR executives, the relevance of our mission is a no-brainer.

Over the years, we've learned to mesh quality, innovation, technology, finance, and economy in ways that enable superior solutions at prices significantly below market rates. An important ingredient is the adoption of a virtual business model. We shun brick-and-mortar paradigms, the cost of which must be passed on to customers. If something doesn't directly benefit our customers, we don't do it. A downside of this philosophy is that some of my team call me cheap. I don't mind.

Keeping our mission at the forefront of team members' minds isn't difficult, in part because of its simplicity, even if they switch the words around. For example, our product development team, which includes me, hears our mission regularly as we ponder new features, benefits, and products. Likewise, our marketing, social media, and website mediums echo a common theme in support of our mission.

As a footnote regarding mission statements, close to twenty-five years ago, IBM had a mission statement that was something along the lines of “to be the world's most successful and important information technology company.” That's a pretty powerful statement. It provides guidance to virtually anyone working within the company. You've gotta love the KISS (Keep it simple, stupid) principle!

Bren Anne Public Relations and Marketing in Ontario, Canada, has five staff members who work remotely most of the time.

At the beginning of the month we have a group meeting, even if it's by teleconference so that we know we are all on the same page. It also allows us to address any items we were revisiting, or our mission and any strategies to achieve our goals. We have set goals, and we go over any strategies and tasks that have a timeline to complete specific client's projects, press release dates, and so on. We then sustain our connection through open communication by every method possible: Everyone has a landline, cell, email, and second contact.

Ken Han, cofounder and senior consultant for Visionary Consulting in Shanghai, China, says, “Participation is the gateway for enhancing engagement either vertically or horizontally. Employees or coworkers will be significantly more engaged if they're invited to cocreate the goals, strategies, and plans they are a part of executing.”

For a horizontal example, a director of a supply chain invited their internal customers and stakeholders to the discussion of determining the group's goals, approaches, and priorities. Those who were invited shared with the team their concerns, worries, expectations, and suggestions. This process made the execution of the plans discussed much smoother in the future since key stakeholders and customers were engaged throughout. For a vertical integration example, a functional leader brings all his direct reports together with representatives at various levels of management as well as frontline workers.

“To increase employee participation, you have to have a culture and mechanism that encourages participation, and the opportunities have to be created and announced and then facilitated,” says Han. “This requires leaders at each level to be able to be facilitators and coaches.” For example, a manager sets rules for participating in his planning and goal-setting process at his level. All his team members are invited to post their comments on his plans under the headings of “Change,” “Concerns,” and “Ideas.” During the goal-setting season, he invites them to do an environmental analysis upon which his goals and plan will be based. Later, he asks them to attend a series of problem-solving and planning workshops. And lastly, to attend a plenary session for consolidating confidence, commitment, and alignment. As Han reports:

We've found that more and more clients have abandoned KPI (key performance indicators) as their major performance management tool for achieving an organization's mission and objectives and have started to embrace OKR (objectives and key results) instead. Some smart managers find success with a more behavioral approach, that is, focusing employees on “the three most important things to do weekly” method for managing the focus of each team member, which is much easier than using KPI.

Other employee engagement strategies that we've found to be effective:

• Mentoring as a format of partnership is amazing and very effective in engaging employees.
• Having sports teams in the organization helps to build a basic layer of the culture that encourages everyone to be more competitive. (Companies that have sports teams are more engaged and resilient.)
• You can also find and develop highly engaged employees called “transformers,” then form coalition teams around them, which also greatly helps to enhance employee engagement throughout the organization.

Tracie Sponenberg, senior vice president of human resources at The Granite Group, based in Concord, New Hampshire reports:

Each quarter, every quarter, our CEO, COO, and chairman visit every one of our thirty-four locations for a quarterly meeting. These meetings are focused on financial metrics and strategy. Every one of our team members, from truck drivers to managers, attends and is updated on company performance, branch performance, and progress with our strategy. You can ask any of our employees what the main strategic focus of our company is—and they will know. Our locations also share daily sales information with their team, so everyone knows how the location is performing, and can understand their impact on their location and the organization.

David Kovacovich, an engagement strategist in San Francisco, California, shares how one of his clients, a technology company based in Silicon Valley with more than 10,000 employees, was struggling to streamline their innovation strategy.

Projects were failing, old thinking wasn't competing, and the competition was catching up in the marketplace. This company looked to their newer hires to amplify their innovation strategy, asking them “What are we missing? What are you seeing?” They issued a challenge to all employees to submit ideas for new product development, service models, or internal dynamic building. Employees were called upon to issue their ideas in just three slides.

Over 300 new ideas were submitted, and a committee was assigned to evaluate the ideas, holding preliminary calls with those that submitted the best ideas. The top five ideators were called upon to present in Shark Tank style at the annual international company meeting. The company rewarded everyone by adopting their ideas, and they were assigned as project leads to bring the ideas to market.

To inculcate their corporate values, RB, a 180-employee IT company servicing the financial sector in Iceland, decided to tap into the high interest employees have in music, reports Herdis Pala, a corporate trainer and business consultant for Pafugl ehf/Peacock. Employees at RB participate in ten bands and choirs at the company. They asked employees to find Icelandic songs and lyrics to show the meaning of the company's values: professionalism (an old Icelandic fisherman's song), safety (a fairly new heavy metal song), and passion (a love song from the late 1990s). They subsequently decorated their office walls with lyrics that represent the meaning of their corporate values.

“Employees have a visual of our firm's values in sight all day, which keeps them top of mind and brings smiles to the faces of their guests and customers,” says Herdis.

Michele Moore, founder and CEO of Southwest Human Capital, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, recalls working with Quad Learning, a company focused on fostering opportunities for international students to attend their “dream” colleges.

We created a monthly newsletter that featured a “Values in Action” segment. Employees were asked to give examples when they witnessed colleagues demonstrating our core values and principles. They loved it. The illustrations used—such as when employees clearly went above and beyond to satisfy a client or suggest something innovative—clearly encouraged and inspired everyone. In addition to serving as recognition, this reinforced our values over and over, and made them part of our firm's everyday vernacular.

Acceleration Partners, a Boston-based marketing firm reviewed its vision and created “Vivid Vision,” a new document highlighting values, goals, and how employees fit in. The firm asked employees to contribute and help shape the document.

Dr. Amy Smith, deputy executive director for business services at the Kentucky Housing Corporation in Frankfort, Kentucky, says:

Prior to the start of each fiscal year in July, the executive team in consultation with the directors and managers set corporate strategic direction. This consists of three to five concise and easily explained strategies. We provide a laminated copy of these strategies to share with each employee.

Additionally, every department creates a business plan and a scorecard to support the corporate strategies. For employees, the strategies are used in our in-house created employee performance evaluation system. So, each performance goal for the staff links to a departmental goal and corporate strategy.

Actions toward achieving the strategies are discussed at the management level at least quarterly, and in departments on a monthly or similar routine basis. Also, all items are placed on a corporate calendar to visually see where areas may be falling behind. We pride ourselves that most staff can share corporate strategies and speak about how strategy impacts their daily work. In a recent board meeting, we adopted new technology allowing board members to access all board documents with a tablet instead of in a large paper binder. Line-level technology services team members attended the meeting to give support to the new users. When asked, the staff let board members know that their new technology was a part of achieving corporate strategy number four: Support flexible, mobile, collaborative, and remote work.

To ensure employees connect with the company's vision and mission, the CEO of Farm Bureau Financial Services in Des Moines, Iowa, called upon his leaders to brainstorm supportive ideas. One result: All computer screens were changed to show a list of company values.

To help employees see how their job efforts come to fruition, founder Elon Musk of SpaceX gathers everyone around mission control to experience rocket launches. To inspire them further, he treats them to private screenings of space-related movies such as Gravity and The Martian.

Several companies today have added a new position to the C-suite: chief cultural officer. People in this new role are responsible for ensuring new employees clearly understand the organization's mission, strategy, and values, and equally important, how they work together to please their customers. A popular strategy is immersing new hires in comprehensive orientation programs.

Instead of doing any technical work during the first week on the job at MailChimp, new hires mostly experience the cultural aspects of the work environment. They are given company-logoed items and taken on tours to meet team members from different departments. Each department gives a high-level overview of how their part of the organization delivers on customer needs. Sometimes veteran employees cheer the new hires as they come through their work area. Before the end of the week, new hires use the same MailChimp app as customers. GlassDoor reports consistently show five-star ratings from MailChimp employees. Customers give good reviews of the company as well.

United Airlines created a commercial advertisement ahead of the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in part to help their employees understand why their work matters. The ad shows two types of superheroes: six US Olympic and Paralympic athletes sponsored by United (official airline of Team USA) and six United employees responsible for transporting competitors and their gear to the Games and back. Superhero nicknames are used to refer to Olympic events and United jobs. When a transportation problem occurs in the ad, an Olympian says, “We can't fly. But you know who can—the helpful crew at United, of course! They'll get our Olympic heroes to the games on time!” Mark Krolick, vice president of marketing at United says, “The tie between superheroes and Team USA athletes is clear. They are regular people who use their exceptional talents to accomplish the incredible.”

Adobe analyzed their work processes to better connect the employee and customer experience. According to Donna Morris, executive vice president of customer and employee experience, many organizations will find it is easier to align core mechanisms with their experience model. When both employees and customers use the same products, employees tend to become customers as well. As part of its strategy, Adobe encourages employees to advocate on the customers' behalf. For example, any employee can report a problem as soon as it arises, so it can be fixed well ahead of a customer who might experience and complain about it later.

To see where things are improving and where corrections may be needed, Adobe regularly surveys employees about their engagement levels with the company and with customers.

Premier Nutrition Corporation based in Emeryville, California, helps employees stay aware of its mission, strategy, and performance in a fun way. The nutrition company holds an all-hands meeting every Monday at 9 A.M. During the meeting, people and departments update each other while they sip and enjoy the Morning Protein Boost—the latest shake recipe. The staff reviews the past week's successes and challenges and what's coming next. They also highlight team members' professional and personal achievements. A state of the company meeting occurs quarterly where year-to-date revenues and earnings are reviewed. Then, the entire company engages in a fun activity such as a bike ride over the Golden Gate Bridge. Encouraging employees to recommend innovative ideas is another way they keep a focus on what is important. They've suggested and/or managed new projects from Doggy Day at work to starting philanthropies. “When you put all of these elements together, you get a community that challenges you professionally, yet supports you emotionally and even physically,” says company president Darcy Horn Davenport. “PNC was recently certified as a Great Place to Work. We're extremely proud because it's based on feedback from current employees.”

At Citigroup, the financial services firm headquartered in New York, more than 100,000 of the company's employees participate in a company-wide performance management system, with managers tracking goals—and tracking employee performance against the goals. Citigroup has developed a series of competencies and attributes linked to its core values, known as its shared responsibilities, which include such things as providing clients with superior products and services and always acting with the highest level of integrity. The company holds all managers accountable through the performance management system for delivering these attributes and competencies.

Allied Irish Bank closed seventy branches and laid off 13,000 people after the Great Recession. To drive commitment for a recovery, the bank ran a Gallup engagement survey, helped leaders understand their scores, and helped them learn skills to improve those scores. They also shared best practice stories, provided one-to-one coaching for 700 leaders to help engage their teams, and hosted an online “brand jam” to get employee input. These strategies helped drive ownership of the brand values. The bank also refreshed the tone of voice of its internal communications, going from extremely formal legalese to more positive, future focused, simple, and human. Overall engagement changed from 81 percent to 86 percent, the greatest increase in Europe that the Gallup organization has ever seen. Absenteeism also dropped, saving €1.2 million.

Accellent, a leading medical device supplier and maker of small parts for heart transplant catheters and surgical instruments, with fourteen manufacturing facilities in twelve American states as well as operations in Germany, Ireland, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and South Korea struggled with employees understanding all the good things the company was doing. To address this need, Accellent interviewed patients who had used some of their products, created posters that featured the patients' faces and personal stories, and put them up in all of their offices. The effect has been amazing. Overall engagement has continued to increase year after year, due in part to the fact that people truly understand the good their work is doing. Says Tricia McCall, senior vice president of human resources:

It started a conversation. People understood that they were making a difference. Quality and performance improved. We asked, “How do you get folks to never take a shortcut, to always do their best work?” You help them think about what they're making and how important it is.