Vision Statements are Highly Overrated

It's not about platitudes. It's about attitudes.

I know what I am about to say will probably get me in trouble but it won't be the first time I have visited that neighborhood. Besides I believe it to be true.

Most employees could care less about a company's "vision." They don't care because company high level visions really aren't at all relevant to how 90% of them they do their job; the conditions under which they have to work and the people they have to deal with on a day to day, week to week or month to month basis.

But that is OK, because I would argue that company visions really don't matter all that much and they never have. I mean they are nice to know at the executive level I guess, but on the list of things that drive employee engagement; builds and bonds high performing teams and which create cultures that "eat strategy for breakfast" knowing the company's vision ranks pretty low on the impact scale.

Most vision statements are just platitudes that don't show up in the attitudes of the companies or managers who espouse them. They are easy to write but hard to operationalize.

In fact the entire industrial revolution that changed the world forever was created by companies which never even thought of vision statements until maybe the 1980's. And I would argue that of the 28 million small business in the US today, most of whom are probably doing relatively well, very few of them, if any, would say their success was due to their vision statement. That is because company vision statements, frankly, don't matter that much to the employee because they aren't about the employee. They are by nature about the company.

What matters most to those working for us is whether or not we can do the hard work create the type of company that people really enjoy working for, or at least don't feel like they are being held hostage in for 40 hours per week. And from the looks of the statistics it doesn't appear we are doing so well in that category.

Gallup has reported that 71% of all employees are not engaged at work. This includes managers. In fact, of the managers and executives they surveyed they found 68% of them were not engaged. The same report also clearly states that 50% of the workforce has very little confidence for their managers and that the total cost of this lack of employee engagement to American businesses is between $450 and $500 Billion annually!.

These statistics are not good. They also have virtually nothing to do with the employees knowing what the company vision is. In fact Gallup has clearly identified that the number one driver of employee engagement is the employee's relationship with their manager. What is the number two driver of employee engagement? What the employee thinks about their manager's manager.

Other factors frequently listed are: roles and responsibilities, compensation, advancement opportunities, quality of work environment and culture of their co-workers. The company vision as a motivator doesn't even break the top 10 list in any of the surveys I have studied.

So, while it is nice to have a vision of the company and it is nice for everyone to know what that vision is, if you think that will have a significant impact on your organization's performance, especially if you are struggling, I am afraid you are sadly and even dangerously, mistaken. It's a bit like having a cool flag atop the Titanic. The intention may be good but the impact will be negligible. We have all heard the saying: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

I have built several companies, have turned several companies around and even saw my first company go under, after struggling for over a year to save it, many years ago. In all of that time, through all of the day to day, issue to issue and hand to hand combat we, as a company, was involved in what bonded us, inspired us and what we were committed to, was one another. Were we looking out for one another? Were we there for one another? Did we support one another in support of the company? But most important; did we value one another and did the employees know the company valued them?

Values, that are truly operationalized, are far more important than any vision. Because in the "fog of war" vision can cease to exist and all you are left with is your values. Compassion. Authenticity. Integrity. Respect.

Besides the company vision that people most care about, the vision that will most engage them, bond them and motivate them to work hard for the company is not the vision the company has of itself. It is the vision their manager and their manager's  managers has for THEM! They want to know and feel that they are being SEEN! They want to know they are valued.

So, having a company vision is nice and it can even be important, if you are one of the few who truly live it, breathe it, include everyone in it and operationalize it. But even so, if your company's vision is not 90% focused on "seeing" your employees then I respectfully submit that you are doing it wrong.

I have found, in over 35 years as a business owner, that the way for me to achieve the vision I have for my companies was to focus my vision on helping the people with whom I worked to achieve the vision they had for themselves.

That formula has never failed me.