Archive for the ‘Vision’ Category

You know, CEOs it is your responsibility to make sure that everyone in your organization knows your vision, your core values, and your mission.  No doubt you have spent a good deal of time preparing these parts of your culture, but have you done all that you can to communicate them to your people?  More important, have you made sure that your messages about culture have been clearly understood by everyone?  All too often we find that even though the CEO has tried to make sure everyone is on board, there are people in the organization who really don’t get it.

Here’s a tip:  Take every opportunity you can to communicate your culture to your team.  Whatever means you use to get the message out, be sure to craft that message with care.  It is important to think about how the people who will read or hear the message will understand what you are saying.  It is even a good idea to check with members of your team periodically to see if they are on the same page you are.  Remember, if you want to communicate clearly you need to make sure that your message is understood by the person who receives the message.  To make this happen, craft every message with care.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

No doubt you know that it’s your responsibility to insure that everybody throughout your organization clearly understands the vision of the company, its values, and the mission of the organization.  Yet from time to time through our actions and through the actions of our people, we may be compromising our vision, values, or mission.  Not intentionally, but it just happens in business.  Changes in the scope of the business, economics, struggles within the organization or employee turnover can all draw us off.  Often the vision, your core values, and your mission get a little bit tweaked.

Here’s a tip:  On a regular basis, once a week ideally, once a month if necessary, but at minimum once a quarter, take some time and push out a message to all of your employees.  You can use email, a newsletter, or maybe even a recorded voice message.  Use that message to reset the scales.  Re-communicate the vision of the organization.  If possible communicate something that the company has done recently to move closer to that vision.  Review your mission and communicate a strategic initiative that was accomplished that gets the company closer to serving that mission.  When you do send this message, be sure to let people know how they can contribute to living the vision and accomplishing the mission.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

No doubt you know that it’s your responsibility to insure that everybody throughout your organization clearly understands the vision of the company, its values, and the mission of the organization.  Yet from time to time through our actions and through the actions of our people, we may be compromising our vision, values, or mission.  Not intentionally, but it just happens in business.  Changes in the scope of the business, economics, struggles within the organization or employee turnover can all draw us off.  Often the vision, your core values, and your mission get a little bit tweaked.

Here’s a tip:  On a regular basis, once a week ideally, once a month if necessary, but at minimum once a quarter, take some time and push out a message to all of your employees.  You can use email, a newsletter, or maybe even a recorded voice message.  Use that message to reset the scales.  Re-communicate the vision of the organization.  If possible communicate something that the company has done recently to move closer to that vision.  Review your mission and communicate a strategic initiative that was accomplished that gets the company closer to serving that mission.  When you do send this message, be sure to let people know how they can contribute to living the vision and accomplishing the mission.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Click here to listen to the CEO rule of the week

You know CEOs; it’s been proven that your employees and possibly even you will spend more conscious, awake, human inter-active hours at work than at home.  Within in that human inter-action they’re dealing with problems, working with customers, greeting their friends, and serving each other internally, but they’re all doing it from a standpoint of their personal core values.  Unless we, the CEOs, can craft and define the core values of our company, we hire people with their own core values and unfortunately they don’t always synchronize, sometimes they even conflict.

Here’s a tip:  Think of your core values.  What are your beliefs as to how it relates to how you treat your customers, employees, the vendors, your community, the business?  Make a list of those core values, publish them and use them as a guideline to hold each other accountable towards how you deal with the human element within your company.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Click here to listen to the CEO rule of the week

CEOs, there are many ways to drive the results you seek.  We set goals for our people.  We hold them accountable to their job description. Sometimes we even give them a very specific list of things-to-do, like a task list.  All of those techniques are necessary and all of those techniques are effective to a point.  But how well are you driving results through communicating the vision?

Here’s a tip:  Send an e-mail to everyone within your organization. Keep it brief, but be sure that you have described your vision and exactly how you feel about it.  Most importantly, allow them to see your passion behind the vision.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada. Your Next Move

Click here to listen to the CEO rule of the week

Whether you have three, thirteen, or thirty employees, every business has a culture.  Either you create the culture of your company or the culture will create itself.

Here’s a tip:  Every year in your strategic planning make sure to review the company’s vision, core values, and mission with the managers who are participating.  Spend some time emphasizing the importance of reviewing the elements of culture with the entire company team and make a plan for regular review during the year.  Frequency of review could be as simple as once a month during staff meetings.  More frequent reviews could easily be done during one on one coaching sessions and would create the perfect opportunity to reinforce the company’s vision, core values, and mission.  All of this matters because, CEOs, if we don’t create our company culture, our company culture will create itself.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move                                                                        Click here to listen to the CEO Rule of the Week