Sam Kaufman, CEO of On The Level Construction, Business Coach and Podcast Host.
getty
As business owners and entrepreneurs, we’ve all spent countless hours thinking about goal setting, strategy, where we see our business going and how we want to get there. After all, it’s our responsibility to visualize those things!
When hiring and retaining quality talent, it’s important that they understand what kind of goals the company has. Having employee buy-in can improve their job satisfaction and ensure productivity across the board. But how can we successfully communicate the mission across the entire ecosystem of the company? Consider these three steps.
1. Define your company’s mission and vision well.
The very first thing we need to do to create a buy-in from the company on our vision and mission is it to be defined. While a simple mission statement is a great tool for communicating with outside parties, it’s not enough to create a buy-in from employees. They must know all the moving parts.
The overall vision you are trying to share should be clearly defined with actionable metrics. To create real support, the vision and mission must be 1) big enough to fit everyone’s professional goals and aspirations, 2) measurable enough to track, and 3) clear enough to communicate to every level within your organization.
The best way to get started defining and documenting your mission and vision is to dream big and reverse engineer it. When you do this, do your best to keep it simple. For example, at my contracting company, our core mission statement is, “We improve homes so we can improve lives.” We strive to touch and improve the lives of 10,000 people a year, and we aim to build a $100 million business so that we have the resources to do it. These concepts are large enough to fit our entire team; they have traceable stats and they are easy enough to communicate with anyone.
2. Help employees understand how they influence the mission.
To create the ultimate buy-in, you and your team need to be able to take the mission to the individual level. As leaders of organizations, we need to help our employees answer the question “How do I fit in there?” by communicating how their career goals and dreams can be achieved by focusing on the corporate mission.
This is a core principle of this whole concept. Buy-in is really personal in nature. So remember that we are not trying to convince anyone to believe in us. We try to communicate the greater mission of why we sell the product or service we offer and how that is built to help the individual achieve their dreams.
3. Always bring things back to the mission.
Our teams thrive on the feeling of being part of something bigger. In 2018, three Facebook employees contributed to a Harvard Business Review article, which reads: “We survey our employees twice a year and ask what employees value most. [W]He identified three big buckets of motivators: career, community and purpose. “As a business leader, you already provide the career and community of your organization. Your vision and mission can now be the cause.
Great leaders can bring the company mission into every conversation. When you come back to why someone needs to improve in a certain area, remind them of the mission. When encouragement or rewards are given, do it because that team member has brought the company closer to the big picture. We can combine this in almost anything if it’s simple enough and you’re consistent. There’s no position at a company too big or too small to be involved in helping the organization realize its vision, and it’s extremely important to make it clear to your team that you believe that.
For those of us who start, run and grow small businesses, it has never been more important to hone the concept of creating buy-in. The atmosphere of small businesses is changing on both the customer and the employee side, and now more than ever we need to be clear and precise in our companies’ vision for the future.
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Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.