Look, I am not sure where I am going with this so I would like to put it out there and get your thoughts. There is an old saying that 'people don't follow companies that have a mission - they follow companies on a mission,' which got me to thinking 'how do companies get their employees to follow strategy in much the same way that they would follow a company on a mission?
Alot has been written about employee engagement and the argument goes that if employees are to follow strategy they need to be engaged. And so, companies embark on alot of activities to keep them engaged. But, I am not sure that that is all there is to it. Having employees engaged is similar, I would argue to the company having a mission statement. It is essential but not fulfilling. People will go through the motions, get the job done and at the end of the day go home.
No, I think that for companies to get employees to follow strategy, and get behind the strategy, they need to connect with their employees. The difficulty is that to connect with employees, you have to do it individual by individual, you have to tap into the same emotions that get individuals to follow companies on a mission. Only then will employees follow and commit to strategy.
What do you think.
Yours in execution.
ian
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