We just finished the Level Seven Arizona Community Roundtable last Friday. The Community Roundtable is a quarterly event where businesses that are in the process of implementing The Level Seven System get together for a day to brainstorm, problem solve and innovate. Many breakthroughs are made through the process because the conversations are so focused and utilize the Level Seven Language and Way of Thinking to drive our solutions.
One of the big question that came up last Friday was “How to Get Our Employees to Buy in to Our Vision and Direction of the Company”. Several hours on the conversation lead to the framework of what is likely to be a very productive system.
1- The Owner or leadership of the business, applying the Level Seven Principle of Defining Results, must have his or her vision and goals for the business written out in a clear, communicable and understandable format. This applied to things like the vision for the business, core values, annual or long term goals and objectives and more.
2- They must install a system, applying the Level Seven Principle of Conveying Information and the Principle of Creating Replication, that regularly and consistently communicates the vision or goals of the company. One time dialogs or hanging a mission statement on the wall won't cut it.
3- They must regularly evaluate, utilizing the Level Seven Principle of Knowing What's True, how the system is working. Our group determined that there are several methods to evaluate if the employees of the company are buying in to the vision and goals.
One of the ways you will know is simply by observing changes in the language and conversations people are having independently in the business. Are they using terms and language from your vision and goals? If yes, then your system is beginning to work.
4- Finally, using the Level Seven Principle of Improving Performance, the business must regularly review and look for ways to improve the system. It was determined that we can't keep saying the same thing over and over in the same way and expect people to continue to pay attention. We must always be looking for new ways to get and keep our employees attention.
Apply this system and approach and soon you will find you wont be the only one in the business who understands and is committed to the goals of the organization.