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A 65-WORD MISSION STATEMENT ENDS UP JUST BEING
ANOTHER PIECE OF ARTWORK FRAMED ON YOUR WALL.
IF YOU WANT EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND A DOCUMENT THAT CAN REALLY GUIDE YOU, CUT YOUR
MISSION STATEMENT TO THE BARE MINIMUM. TOM DAILEY DID
THAT AT 2CHECKOUT.COM AND SAW IMPRESSIVE RESULTS.
Tom Dailey had been CEO at 2Checkout.com Inc. only a short time when he realized the company, no longer in the start-up phase, was settling down and becoming larger - and it needed to join the big leagues where formal accounting and strategic planning were mandatory.
"The company's performance was flattening out, quite frankly," he says. "We were having some challenges with revenues and expense management.
"Sometimes that is an awkward period in companies' developments because they are moving from an environment where decisions were made quickly and things weren't very well-documented. You could sort of do things on the fly and go forth into an environment that is more formalized because you are getting bigger and more money is passing through your hands. At times, that's a little bit of a challenge for various companies, and that's definitely where we were."
Previously, Dailey was in charge of a large organization of more than 2,000 people with a large call center - and knew the challenges involved in changing a company's processes.
Working through the challenges took a vision, and more importantly, connecting with employees so they know that they play a part in making the vision a reality.
Adding to the situation was that 2C heckout.com employees just didn't feel like management was communicating enough with them.
"Today, it's not enough to articulate the vision and ask people to follow," Dailey says. "People have to understand why a company is going in a certain direction, and more importantly, people want to understand what role they play in the big picture of achieving a vision. It's not just enough to say, 'March this way.' You have to say, 'March this way; here's why we're going this way, and here's the key role you play.'
"So one of the things that I think is you cannot overcommunicate to people; it's literally impossible to overcommunicate," he says.
So Dailey reached into his CEO bag and pulled out some tools...