CHAPTER 3

The “Vision Thing”: Passengers or Crew

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that in an environment where there is a shared vision of excellence . . . where people can be the best they can be on a daily basis . . . where, when they know what is expected of them . . . understand that reward is linked to performance . . . and BELIEVE they can make a difference because they will be heard . . . they WILL make a difference. They will go BEYOND our expectations and great things will start to happen.

—FedEx founder, chairman, and CEO Frederick W. Smith1

Every major achievement in the history of humankind has been accompanied by one thing—significant, as in capital “C,” Commitment on the part of one or more people. Think about it: without real Commitment, Christopher Columbus would have waited for better maps before sailing off the edge of the known universe. Martin Luther King Jr. would not have marched in Selma, Alabama, and early NASA astronauts would have voted to send more monkeys up before strapping their butts to a relatively untested rocket.

Commitment starts with an extremely well-grasped destination or journey—a place, a concept, an overarching purpose. It answers questions such as: What are we here for? What’s our raison d’être? Where are we going?

Dr. King was attempting to take a people and a nation—indeed, the entire world—to a new and different place, where the color of one’s skin was no longer a boundary. Why does your organization exist? Where is it going? And how well do you tell that story? Who will even remember it six months from now?

Despite the billions spent every year on internal corporate communications, most companies do miserable jobs of helping their people understand the business’s direction, goals, and priorities—let alone securing their Commitment. If you doubt the magnitude of this “failure to communicate” claim, take five minutes and go do some field research of your own.

Ask a sample of your employees to jot down what they believe to be the organization’s three highest priorities and where they think it is headed. Do it right now, before you read another word. When the answers come back without any degree of consistency, the question is obvious: If they don’t know where you’re going, how can they possibly help you get there?

Don’t feel too bad. We have asked this question not just of ground-level workers, but hundreds of C-level execs in our Bottom Line Leadership program, and the result is exactly the same every time: nobody knows. And when the top 10 or 12 people in an organization can’t consistently articulate the direction or top priorities, things are really slowing down.

A leader has got to show his troops the route of the march and the destination.

—Frank Pacetta, Xerox Sales Manager2

Burning Off the Fog

Some organizations have people who do seem to “get it.” We wanted to know what makes the difference between these places and the average organization. If your people know (really know) what you’re all about, how did they find out? What did you, as a manager, have to do to help them realize it?

We have asked these questions of hundreds of business leaders over the past 15 years, and the answers (where there were cogent answers) are about as unsexy and unimaginative as it gets. We had hoped perhaps to hear of some ingenious, idiot-proof techniques guaranteed to inject the milk of human understanding into every living thing under the corporate roof, but there weren’t any. Instead, we heard repeatedly from organizations whose people do seem to get it—and get it good—that you simply tell them, over, and over, and over again. In fact, you practically carpet bomb them from day one with the same simple, clear-cut, credible message. Then, you back that message up with deeds.

However, what did surface from these conversations were some very definable conditions that impede companies from getting people to see and support the big picture—such as:

1. The Event Syndrome: In all too many cases, any attempt to communicate these priorities, goals, and so on, takes place only once a year, or maybe every three or four years, usually after some mountaintop retreat or strategic planning session. Someone—or some group—produces a wonderfully crafted letter, speech, pamphlet, or video. Everyone endures the obligatory “viewing” and then promptly goes back to what they were doing, safely assured that the topic won’t come up again for at least another year.
In one organization we know, the senior management group returned from its three-day mountaintop experience in Moses-like fashion, bearing (get this) real stone tablets with the newly minted corporate goals inscribed on them. With phrases such as “competitively superior, highly integrated, broad-based networks” inscribed upon them, we’re fairly certain that more than a few of their people couldn’t even pronounce some of this stuff, let alone understand or remember it. Fortunately, those rocks made pretty good paperweights.
2. Message of the Week: In other cases, companies somehow expect all those thoughtful, intelligent people they call employees to buy the notion that this week they’re a “Market Leader,” knowing all the while that next week they’ll be the “Most Operationally Efficient,” “Lowest Cost Producer,” or some other arbitrarily chosen superlative. Come on; get real! It’s almost as if many executives are suffering from the very same attention deficit disorder that grips a lot of our school-age children. (Maybe there should be a Ritalin prescription for the boardroom.)
3. “Misaligned Bellybuttons” or “Talk Is Cheap”: Basketball players learn early in their careers that the best way to anticipate movement when guarding an opponent is to watch the other person’s midsection, as it reliably predicts where the rest of the person is going. The same is true off the court as well—and in some companies we find that executives’ bellybuttons are pointed in one direction and their mouths in another.
4. “Mission Statement” vs. Sense of Mission: Comparatively speaking, executives spend entirely too much precious time and energy crafting precisely worded mission, vision, and value statements. This is time and effort they should be investing in making darned sure every human being on their payroll truly understands and appreciates what all that stuff means.

In case after case, Contented Cow companies are the ones doing the better job of helping their people see, feel, and appreciate where the business is headed, why it is going there, and what role they are expected to play. Although their efforts aren’t usually the slickest or fanciest (no stone tablets, to be sure), they are clear, consistent, and “udderly” compelling.

Making It Stick

Some of the better examples we have seen involve health care companies such as Medtronic and Genentech, who routinely use patient-staff interactions as a very impactful way of reminding their people why they have a job. Indeed, buildings on Genentech’s South San Francisco campus are adorned with huge murals containing pictures of patients, emphasizing the reason those buildings exist.

Another company that manufactures intravenous bags and tubing occasionally takes workers to a neighboring county hospital to witness the very real impact of their labor firsthand. Others make effective use of corporate legend, stories, and recognition programs to shape and reinforce the big picture for their staffs.

Witness Toronto’s Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), a company that caught our attention because of their efforts to keep their articulated mission and values alive and functioning well in everything their workers do on the job.

MLSE is in the business of producing fun, something that is in short supply in a world where people are wound way too tight. Even the company name sounds fun—and by all accounts, working there is just that. The diversified company owns four Toronto professional sports teams—the Maple Leafs (NHL) and Marlies (AHL) hockey teams, the Raptors (NBA) basketball team, and the Football Club (FC) soccer team. They also own and operate the magnificent multiuse Air Canada Centre, home of the Maple Leafs and Raptors and Canada’s premiere entertainment venue, hosting dozens of live concerts and other events every year.

In addition to the usual corporate infrastructure positions, the team of more than 3,500 full- and part-time employees performs all kinds of jobs, including stage and house management, engineering, housekeeping, and work associated with quick-service restaurants, informal and fine dining, and sports broadcasting. One large, multidisciplinary team converts the venue from a hockey rink to a basketball court and then to a live concert arena, sometimes all in one day. Another runs a large retail operation vending all sorts of team gear and other enthusiast needs.

“We work hard, and a lot of people put in long and odd hours, but we’re having such a good time, that nobody seems to notice,” said Tanya Avoledo-Vadori, whose title with MLSE is Manager, People. “People are always saying, ‘I can’t believe I get to work here!’”

The company uses sports-themed vernacular to describe almost everything they do. They have an Employee Playbook and refer to new hires as Rookies. One outstanding manager, regardless of department or rank, receives the Coach of the Year award annually. And every month, the company chooses four Stars based on outstanding work that exemplifies (and reinforces) the company’s four stated values:

  • Excite every fan.
  • Inspire our people.
  • Be dedicated to our teams.
  • Be leaders in our community.

In addition to the four Stars, a Player of the Month (POM) is also designated. Not only is the name of the award a twist on what so many call Employee of the Month (yawn), but the selection criteria are also different from many EOM programs we’ve all seen—those in which a good employee who hasn’t yet had the honor gets the nod, and the attendant parking spot, for that month.

In contrast, MLSE’s POM is the employee whose work is deemed to have had the most significant impact on the company’s success during that month. The March 2011 recipient, Jim Steele, was recognized for his extraordinary work contributing to the Air Canada Centre’s successful hosting of the live national broadcast of the Junos, Canada’s Music Awards. An excerpt about his nomination reveals something of the heft of the monthly designation, as well as this recipient’s qualifications for receiving it:

After a year of advance work, the Junos loaded in, and in the span of a week, the largest stage ever built in [the Air Canada Centre] grew out of the ground. The set moved from concept to reality. The visuals were programmed, the sound and the lighting perfected. With a lot of patience, pre-planning, and some exceptionally organized chaos, our Player of the Month was able to steer the event into the success it ultimately became. Each pre, post and concurrent event was assigned and delegated. Each detail was addressed and noted. Each concern was met with options and professionalism.

As the jewel event for the Canadian music industry, and a LIVE broadcast, it goes without saying that there was no room for error. The expertise of our POM brought ACC & MLSE into the nation’s focus, and it was flawless. The event requirements that he oversees would make an ordinary person’s head spin on the simplest of set-ups, but he conquered the most complex with ease. Most notably, he did this while defending the reputation, safety, security, code compliance and revenue potential of MLSE.

At year’s end, the organization creates a roster of All Stars populated by 8 of the year’s 48 value-specific Stars, two from each value. Then the entire employee population elects the year’s Most Valuable Player from the 12 Players of the Month.

The seriousness with which MLSE takes these designations, and the clear linkage they make to their four values, contributes in large part to the fact that these values are baked into every job at MLSE. In fact, most MLSE employees could tell you without having to refer to the Employee Playbook what those values are and how their jobs relate to each.

Brad Lynn, who was recently named a Star under the value of “Excite Every Fan,” pulled some previously unpullable strings to allow two young local hockey teams to take a quick tour of the Marlies’ locker room while the team was warming up on the ice. Unless you understand the position that hockey plays in Canadian culture, it might be hard to grasp what a big deal this is—but believe us, it is. Brad’s ability to accommodate such a last-minute request gave a bunch of kids a memory of a lifetime.

“Moments of Truth”

What organizations like MLSE are trying to achieve is absolute clarity of purpose and direction for every single employee—and anyone else who’s involved. They do it so that any staff member who encounters a moment of truth—be it a customer issue or opportunity, an operational emergency, or an ethical dilemma—can proceed on their own recognizance, guided by the beacon of knowledge that comes from understanding and really embracing the big picture.

In his book, Moments of Truth, former SAS Airline President Jan Carlzon suggested that these fleeting moments of interaction between customers and frontline employees determine the fate of any customer-driven organization. Speaking of SAS, he said, “If we are truly dedicated to orienting our company toward each customer’s individual needs, then we cannot rely on rule books and instructions from distant corporate offices. We have to place responsibility for ideas, decisions, and actions with the people who are SAS during those brief seconds.”3 To be sure, Carlzon was not advocating that businesses be run purely on the whims of whatever each individual employee happens to feel like doing at the moment. Clearly, there needs to be some form of structure and a solid decision-making process. However, he is suggesting that the gulf that exists in many organizations between a truly involved workforce hitting on all cylinders and one that gives every appearance of being brain dead can be best bridged with credible information. As such, this insight must be artfully presented and continually reinforced in terms of where the organization is going, why it’s going there, what it stands for, and what it needs and expects from all hands on deck. Good, timely information enables people to perform at a higher rate of speed and with fewer errors. If they don’t have that information, they must inevitably slow down to sort things out.

As if to put a bow on the subject, Carlzon points out, “Setting a good example is truly the most effective means of communication, and setting a poor one is disastrous!”

High Expectations Beget High Performance

There is no middle ground when it comes to Commitment; people are either passengers or they’re crew, Committed or they’re not. If they fall into the latter category, it may not be because they’re stupid, lazy, mean-spirited, or just plain “bad employees” (as much as you might want to believe otherwise). Okay, a few might be. But the main reason they perform the way they do is because we haven’t done our part as leaders to get them enrolled in the journey.

To gain their support, we have to show them the big picture. According to Jack Stack, who brought Springfield Remanufacturing back from the brink, “The big picture is all about motivation. It’s giving people the reason for doing the job, the purpose of working. If you’re going to play a game, you have to understand what it means to win. When you show people the big picture, you define winning.”4

Our firm’s employee opinion surveys routinely question the extent to which respondents feel that upper management provides them ample information about the organization’s goals. Seems like a fairly straightforward question, right? Well, the answer in the minds of more than 40 percent of the nearly 200,000 respondents over a 20-some-year period is—“They don’t.” Now, if you put any credence at all in Jack Stack’s experience, this suggests that people have no hope whatsoever of winning in at least 40 percent of those cases. Face it: if we cannot or will not give our folks straightforward information about where the ship is headed, how can we possibly ask them to help us steer it?

High expectations create an environment where both individual and company growth can take place. Each and every one of us wants desperately to be a winner. However, people often don’t know how to win in their jobs. Their managers have to show them or get used to the fact that everyone will lose while they stand idly by. Winning is too often defined in terms that are overly dry, sterile (take a look at your own company’s strategic plans or “vision statements”), or completely irrelevant to the intended audience (Company X wants to achieve ROCE of 16.2 percent). It’s time to get real! After all, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t launch an entire movement with the words “I have a strategic plan,” did he?

Chapter Summary

1. Contented Cows are Committed Cows.
2. Employees won’t part with their “discretionary effort” for just any old reason. They must have what they consider to be good and compelling reasons; the “cause” must be impeccably clear and compelling and must fit with their sensibilities.
3. Far too few employees know what the company does, where it’s going, what it stands for, what it believes in, and where they fit in.
4. There’s no middle ground when it comes to Commitment—you are either committed, or you aren’t.
5. Committed employees are the only ones capable of delivering the kind of quality and service needed to compete and win.
6. Managers in Contented Cow companies communicate, through word and deed, and in every way imaginable, what the company is all about. The word overcommunication isn’t even in their lexicon.
7. High expectations beget high performance.

Notes

1. Frederick W. Smith, speech at Rhodes College, February 25, 1988.

2. “Success,” May 1994, 64.

3. Jan Carlzon, Moments of Truth (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 1987), 3.

4. Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 57.

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