It can be difficult to clearly articulate a future your team can rally around. Simple statements expressed through a straightforward framework can help.
Whether you leverage a vision or a set of priorities as a baseline for communications, one highly effective approach for communicating the future you envision is to use a From This – To That construct. Specifically, use simple statements to describe what you are moving to from where you are today. Ultimately, you want your team to say, “I like the view of his / her world. I want to live there! What can I do to get us there?”
This construct can be particularly useful in building that type of energy, helping people fully connect to your message. For example, in one of my organizations at Nationwide, we developed a simple vision statement: “To become a digital technology organization faster than our competition.” This local, organization-specific vision laddered up to the enterprise-level vision and goals for advancing digital capabilities. Becoming a truly digital technology organization faster than our competition energized this particular team as they could envision the positive impact we would have on our customers, partner firms, Nationwide, and themselves.
Below is an example From This – To That structure aligned to this local vision.
Of course, what creates a compelling, emotional connection will be different across organizations. For a technology team, the idea of building high levels of internal expertise in new technologies like artificial intelligence, substantially reducing manual work through intelligent automation, and increasing speed to delivery are powerful messages that are likely not quite as strong, say, for a sales team.
From this framework, you can then provide direction, per your strategy, for how these statements are to be made true. Further, as things change, you can return to this view, making it easier for associates to understand and act on the changes.
Share your thoughts below.
What construct or approaches do you use to share your vision of a better future with your team?
Leave a Reply