Foundations of Employee Motivation: A Shared Vision
Last week I wrapped up a poll on LinkedIn. The question I posed was: What type of conversation do you find the most challenging? There were four options to choose from: clarifying a shared vision; keeping Team Members motivated; focusing on the right tasks; and providing feedback. Voters could select one or all of the 4 options listed. Most Leaders selected multiple options.
My takeaway from the voting pattern is that every conversation is challenging. Clarifying the vision received the most votes and providing feedback the least. I was surprised, as I expected providing feedback would have been one the conversations that Leaders find the most challenging. But I was wrong. A fellow contributor, a Leader in a large private medical organization crystallized the debate…
“Clarifying a shared vision is the most challenging of these. Large organizations have a challenge ensuring everyone is on the same page regarding the vision which needs a well-defined set of core values and cultural behaviors expected, and the vision of where the company is going. The entire team needs to be on the same page and the challenge is dealing with those who have different opinions and those not engaged enough! Plenty for a leader to monitor and address!”
As I reflected on the comment above, I was reminded of a small organization I worked with a few years ago. A new set of owners bought the company from the Founder. As new owners, they wanted to draft a new set of mission, vision and value statements to engrain their purpose on the new company and its future. Everyone in the organization was clear on the company’s outputs and value proposition, yet the owners could not settle on a vision statement. Months went by, multiple drafts and debates took place. The fuzzy view of the future permeated throughout the staff. They all knew they needed to produce and sell but were not clear why and what they were striving for. On a day-to-day basis people worked diligently at their jobs, but there was a sense of it being a ship without a rudder. At first people seemed comfortable with the status quo, giving the new leaders leeway to define their vision. But people can only live in ambiguity for so long without a compelling vision that staff could champion, loss of enthusiasm was bound to take root. And it did. It showed in their quality, sales targets, and staff retention.
Large organizations have to contend with additional issues. They must cascade the vision across departments and depend upon the Leaders to be enthusiastic spokes people. In large organizations the responsibility and success of the communication strategy rests with the Team Leader – Middle Management level. Mid-level Managers must understand the vision and accept it implicitly. The have to translate it and make it meaningful for each person on their Team. For the Midlevel Leader, they must listen to the Team Members and respond directly to their concerns and in some cases be champions of their Team and take the concerns up the ranks. Because the only successful vision is a shared vision.