Here's how you can inspire and engage employees by effectively communicating your company's vision and goals.

First, make sure that your employees are active participants in the process of developing the company's mission and vision so they have a sense of ownership of your organization's strategic directions and priorities. Second, recruit employees who are passionate about your mission and vision. Third, whenever possible, articulate on a regular basis how individual employee's work supports and connects with the strategic directions and priorities resultant from your mission and vision. Fourth, recognize employees whose work has advanced the mission and vision of your organization. Fourth, demonstrate that your mission and vision indeed move your company forward.

I want to emphasize the importance of the vision statement as a compelling idea that resonates with employees. Employees must also articulate the organization's vision with passion and sincerity to their customers or end users. Clear and to the point will make the vision statement memorable and actionable.

These steps to inspire and engage your employees are a solid foundation that must be surrounded by continued visibility and availability of leadership. The initial presentation of the company's vision and goals is often a product of some sort of conference, town hall or team meeting. As such, they may be perceived as a "Formal" offering that will succeed or fail by the employee's belief that you are living these steps every day. Get out there. Learn your staff's names and what they do. Ask them how the organization is doing. Ask them how last night's ball game went or did they go to the local concert. By being perceived as available and interested in what they think, the company is going to have a much greater chance of success.

Vision statements for full service law firms can be difficult to pull off. Too specific, and you risk them not resonating with particular practice groups. But too broad, and they'll fail to differentiate the firm from any other. I'm looking at you - "to be a trusted advisor to our clients", "to be a great place to work"...! To address this, it can be helpful to have vision statements for each practice area, that nest within the broader firmwide vision. This helps bring the firm's vision to life for clients, and ensures that partners and staff understand what their specific role is.

Invite the teams reflections on how their everyday work can feel purposeful while at the same time achieving the collective vision!

To boost engagement and productivity, shift from imposing corporate-driven SMART goals to helping employees align personal aspirations with company objectives. Predefined goals without motivation can frustrate and disengage employees. Instead, coach them to uncover their passions and career motivations. For those seeking advancement, provide clear growth paths with actionable steps and rewards for milestones. Recognize that some employees may prefer to focus on current roles; forcing goals on them can harm morale. Respecting their autonomy fosters a positive, trusting work environment.

Can a person screw in a screw without a screw driver? Well, if they improvise, they could, but would it be the most efficient method? No. While I love using frameworks for planning and setting goals, each category must be supported by relevant and realistic circumstances. In the case of the "work place", I feel like a lot of responsibility is moved towards the employee when it comes to achieving goals, but who's holding leadership accountable? Goals only become a reality once achieved. If you don't have the support of your boss, aka the gatekeeper, the goals you have set out there may not work out. So while encouraging employees to set goals is great, be sure to also support them where possible.

Your team looks to you to set the bar. If you live the company values in all that you do, then that’s what the team will believe. If what you do or communicate is at odds with those values, then THAT’s what your team will accept as their guidelines. So, the most important thing that you do, is everything that you do. Walk the walk and talk the talk applies, more than ever, in business. Set the example for your team to follow.

An example of how we communicate is we created a playbook for why we selected the goals and the the overall strategy. We also review the goals a few times a month along with the progress we are making toward the goal. We decided to display percent to goal, instead of how close we are to the target. It shows progress made rather than "we are not quite there yet".

Healthy leadership practices start from the top down. It is a chain reaction! The goal is to keep individual contributors motivated, but their leaders, and their leaders, leaders, need to be doing the same. If you have ever experienced someone giving you an assignment, let's say in college with partial directions, just recall how it made you feel. Or how about those exams that have everything on there but what was covered in the lecture or what the professor actually told you to study! It's frustrating, and almost feels like a set up for failure! So to keep the enthusiasm contagious, it should start with upper leadership empowering people leaders, giving them the #what AND #how - the tools they need to have a successful team!

We tend to celebrate the big wins. Closing that sale, renewing a big contract, meeting the quarterly forecast. These are important, and they absolutely deserve celebration and recognition. But it can leave your team thinking that they’re not contributing if they weren’t involved in that specific project. In reality, your team wins every day in every thing that they do. Celebrate the little victories, every day! You shipped an order two days early? That’s a wow factor for your client. A regular customer referred you to their brother-in-law and you gained a new client? That’s growth. Purchasing saved you 10% by pooling orders? That’s a boost to bottom line profit. Encourage your team to celebrate the little wins.