The leadership of any organization worth its salt and pepper, has taken the time to clearly articulate their core values (the foundation on which all is built); along with who they are; and why they exist. They’ve got a one-year plan with goals, and a strategy to reach them. They are crystal clear on all of these.
Nice work…this is important stuff.
But failing to clearly communicate these messages to the rest of the organization is a missed opportunity to engage your teams, and build and enhance your culture. And culture, my friends, is perhaps the last frontier anyone can truly compete on. Strategies and tactics can be copied, but no one can duplicate your culture.
Engaged employees are those committed to the organization’s values and goals; motivated to contribute to its success; and feel personally aligned with the mission. In short, they feel connected.
There are mountains of articles and information on this topic. So for those of you who are StrengthsFinder fans, allow me to use my strengths of Input (read voraciously and file away lots of bits of information) and Arranger (now let me put them into a context for you) to summarize some of the reasons you should care about this.
Happy employees help businesses thrive. Remember the California happy cow campaign? Great cheese comes from happy cows. Listen to the cows.
People like to know and understand where they’re going. No one marches forth in the dark with confidence. Forget all those scary movies where people head boldly down to the basement in the dark. That doesn’t happen in real life. Ever.
Great talent is hard to find, and it’s expensive to replace. Some research by Gallup suggests that less than one third of the American workforce feels engaged in their jobs, and that it’s one of the top reasons for people to leave an organization. More so than their pay.
Trust me, I could go on. But I think you get the idea. Shine a light…and shine it brightly. People need to hear the messages with great consistency and repetition.
As a coach, I care not only about helping teams get clear on their picture, but that they have a plan to share it with everyone. That’s where the real magic happens. And if you need help creating the magic, we should talk.
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