5 Reasons Your Employees Don’t Understand Your Company’s Vision

“We don’t have a north star.” Despite hours of work developing a business’ visions, mission, and strategy, executives are often surprised by this comment from their employees. Often these senior leaders jump right back into off-site, trying to finesse statements and make things clearer, only to discover the problem still exists.

There are five underlying issues for this complaint in employees. First, there is a lack of communication. Explaining the vision once isn’t enough. It must be delivered in a variety of ways — and repeated. Second, some vision and strategy statements are at a high, 50,000-foot-view level, rather than making sure the message is adapted for delivery at all levels of the organization. Third, decisions and individual actions may not be aligned with the commitment communicated. Fourth, team members may dislike or disagree with the vision. Finally, change, by definition, is disruptive. Employees worry about the additional work that might come with the new vision.