It’s Not You. It’s Your Corporate Vision
By Lisa Bodell for Forbes
Does your company’s vision serve as a compass for employees’ daily decision-making? Does it communicate how future success will be achieved? When leadership follows a clear vision, it provides the entire organization with focus, coherence and direction. Yet only 22% of American employees think their leaders demonstrate a clear vision for the company, according to Gallup’s most recent State of the American Workplace study.
As a CEO and the author of Why Simple Wins, I’ve studied complexity and tracked how quickly it can spread into every corner of an organization. It seeps through companies large and small in the seemingly harmless form of reporting structures, approval layers and new policies or procedures. Eventually, the layers-upon-layers of red tape will suffocate even the purest of corporate visions.
To determine whether your vision has been compromised by complexity, explore the following Q&A focused on the vision and messaging area of your business. Any size organization can use it, from start-ups to multinational corporations, but it should be completed by at least one person in a leadership role. From there, you and your teams will discuss the results and decide on solutions.
Start by answering the following six statements with either “Consistently,” “Sometimes,” “Rarely” or “Never.” Answer individually and be radically honest in your assessments.
1. Employees understand the vision and values of our business