Accounting and Consulting
Keywords
How to get employees to remember your vision
By Meredyth McKenzie
Smart Business Chicago | January 2009
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Dean Sellers
managing director, Reznick Group PC
Dean Sellers likes to be involved in his organization, and he spends time with key people at each level to know what is going on at Reznick Group PC.
Spending time with groups of his 90 employees at the accounting, tax and business advisory firm also helps Sellers get their feedback on important decisions in the company, including its vision. He says you need to get people involved in developing that vision, articulate it clearly to them and then focus on it so that everyone understands it so they can help you achieve it.
“If you’re not getting feedback, either indirectly or directly, from all levels of the organization, you have a hard time matching up where your people are with the vision you set — or building your vision, for that matter,” says the company’s managing director.
Smart Business spoke with Sellers about how to develop a vision that everyone can understand.
Get feedback. You have to get feedback so you have an idea of where your team is. It’s almost like a sports team. If some of the people are working off one play and somebody is working off the other, it rarely works well.
If you can’t keep the vast majority of people headed toward the vision, then you’re going to be dysfunctional.
I can’t meet with everybody, but I try to pick a few at less experienced levels within each of the groups and administrative support team to actually meet with them one on one. Maybe it’s only 20 to 30 minutes, but I have a couple of questions for them that give me a feel for where and how they see things. Then it’s a matter of building a vision statement.
I’m primarily looking for the higher performers — sometimes I look for somebody who tends to be outspoken. They may not necessarily be at the top of the class, but they don’t hesitate to share their thoughts.
