Before we get deep into this worry, first let’s get clear on what a VISION really is. To sum up what many professionals have defined VISION to be;
A company’s vision reveals, at the highest levels, what an organization most hopes to be and achieve in the long term. It focuses on tomorrow and what an organization wants to ultimately become. It gives the company direction. It is the future of the business, which then provides the purpose.
Wow, this is deep! Looking at that. Without a vision, you and your company are headed nowhere, right?
Any wonder then why business owners and employers worry about the ability, willingness and commitment of their employees in moving their VISION forward.
A number of reasons fuel this worry and sadly most are valid based on employee’s behavior, attitude and actions. Fortunately, this can be mitigated by both employees and employers getting on a journey of making their lives better so they may be in the right mindset to perform excellently.
I’ll begin with the employer’s part.
Research shows that 63% of employees do not have a clear understanding of the company’s vision. While this is not an end in itself, ‘knowledge is power!’ When the employees are not sure where the organization is going, they don’t have much ground to stand to be creative, play full out, make mistakes, learn from them and perfect their act. More so, employees who don’t have a full picture of where the organization is headed do not consider themselves an important part of the organization, don’t see their personal role in the accomplishment of the VISION and have not connected with the feeling that ‘if it’s going to happen, it’s up to me.’
Such employees wait to be told what to do, and neither do they go over and beyond the bare minimum to achieve more for the organization. As employers therefore, you need to sing your VISION to the new employees and the old ones alike. It should get engraved in everyone’s mind what the organization exists to do and to be. Let everyone understand how important it is to accomplish the VISION. What problem will you solve or what benefit will the world get when you accomplish your VISION? Help your employees feel connected with the great value they are offering to the world – beyond the business value.
When I was a teacher, I learnt to relate my work to what the students are becoming, to who I’m impacting other than how much I was earning. Most teachers know this secret and are known to be healthier, happier and ageless! This will get employees to align with your VISION a lot faster than any pay rise will ever cause them to.
The recent Harvard Business Review report was not far from this view. 90% of the respondents stated that they would be willing to earn less if their work meant more. This can be achieved by creating a meaningful MISSION and VISION and helping employees understand and align with it.
Employees too have a role to play in this-a greater role in fact.
In his book Success Principles: How to get from where you are to where you want to be, Jack Canfield says, ‘Take 100% responsibility for your life and results.’
So dear employee, you have chosen to join an organization. It is entirely your 100% responsibility to ask, discover and understand what the company stands for, what they stand for and what value it adds to the world. If a company stands for something you don’t believe in, please don’t join. Now that you have joined, if you realize you cannot align yourself with the vision of the company you are working with, please be decent enough to shake hands with your employer, thank them for the opportunity and leave.
Now that you have chosen to stay, we shall relate with you as someone who is interested in moving forward with the organization you are working with. It is self-defeating when you choose to stay and still don’t play full out. As it is, the company you work for is the ground in which you are planted. How you invest yourself to learn and to maximize your potential determines how much you grow as an individual.
Do you want to become better in your life and your career? Stretch your performance and with it, your creativity, understanding, performance and opportunities will grow. Are you performing at a mediocre level, not giving it your best and sabotaging your company growth? Guess what, YOU are the one that’s becoming mediocre.
The more you do, the more you learn. An old adage goes, ‘practice makes perfect’ and another one goes, ‘we learn by mistakes.’ The real question is, are you giving yourself a chance to practice, to ask questions, to research and learn, to keep becoming better each day? No one can ever take from you what you have learnt. It will always inform you, grow you and push you forward. So, why not maximize your potential in your job? That’s where you are, that’s where you can grow.
Quit complaining and blaming. Take 100% responsibility for who you want to become. It’s not your boss or your team members who are keeping you from becoming everything you want to become. It’s you-you are the one who is not allowing you to sprout, bloom, and blossom in the ground where you have been planted.
Look, I give you two choices; play full out, stretch yourself and give more to your organization and see yourself grow beyond your own expectation or hold back, care less, ask no questions, ignore creativity and become a perpetual mediocre.
WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE?
With both the employer and employee seeking to become better people so they may become better workers, the workplace will be a place you want to wake up and go to, your workmates will feel like family and the business will breath in some fresh air!