Published October 2005

Company’s vision
encompasses
employees, too

Q. I heard a radio advertisement that made the hair on my neck stand up, but I’m not sure why. “Let’s see,” a would-be entrepreneur is telling a friend, “I’ve completed my business plan, arranged my financing, leased my office, purchased my office equipment and computers; I’m ready to open my business.” His friend wonders, “What are you going to do about providing employee benefits?” Not surprisingly, the clueless entrepreneur replies, “I have no idea where to begin.” Of course, the ad was for an employee benefit consulting firm. What’s your reaction?

A. Yes, I have heard the radio spot, and it rankles me as much as it does you. I believe it should be played in every business development class in every graduate business school if only to provoke discussion on why the so-called “new business” is bound to fail.

Students who answer that the entrepreneur is following a fatally flawed strategic planning matrix should be dispatched back to undergraduate Psychology 101.

The linchpin here goes far beyond the entrepreneur’s failure to plan his employee benefit and compensation program — a must before hiring a single employee.

His biggest failure was to articulate a far-reaching vision of what he wanted his business to accomplish. Had he done so, establishing employee benefits would have been just one minor check on a ramp-up list.

To many so-called business “experts,” the “vision thing” is a fuzzy, amorphous and immeasurable collection of words that wind up having zero affect on the bottom line. That’s because they are afraid to even try creating one.

Truth is, the world’s greatest companies not only have compelling vision statements, they inculcate them into the psyche of every person associated with the organization so that decision-making based on its values becomes second nature.

Think of Bill Gates’ vision of putting a computer on every desktop. Remember Herb Kelleher’s idea of not only wanting to give his customers the lowest possible price, but the best possible service delivered by people who felt loved by the organization.

Steven Covey, world-recognized business consultant and author, once gave a clear vision to his teen-age son when assigning lawn maintenance duties at home. “I want the grass to be green and clean.” President Kennedy delivered a famous nonbusiness vision statement when he said he wanted a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s.

The effects of an organization’s compelling vision statement are profound and far-reaching. With it, “people will think their work is worthwhile and will become joyful,” business visionaries Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner observed in their book, “The Vision Thing: Without It You’ll Never be a World-Class Organization” (John Wiley Publishing, 2004).

Another outstanding business consultant, Roxanne Emmerich loves to tell the story of shopping at the Mall of America in suburban Minneapolis soon after moving there, newly divorced, starting a new business and with two growing children.

After trudging through 50 stores and getting only the perfunctory “may I help you” line by clueless salespeople, Emmerich encountered a 20-something, bright-eyed man who stopped her with his out-stretched hands, asking her to wait one moment.

When he returned, he draped a stunning blue sweater over her shoulders. He gently guided her to a mirror and said, “Don’t you agree that this sweater does an incredible job of making your lovely blue eyes even lovelier?” Thirteen years later, Emmerich wore the sweater before a national business conference.

Her point: The blue-sweater employee and his associates had been encouraged, motivated and trained to become “the extraordinary humans they are, without limitations” rather than merely being polite and solicitous — all the result of a clear vision of the business’ owners.

Eric Zoeckler operates The Scribe, a business writing service. He also writes a weekly workplace column appearing in Monday’s Economy section of The Herald. He can be reached at 206-284-9566 or by e-mail to mrscribe@aol.com.

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