How do you move a culture to a new level? Envision>Empower>Execute>Excel.
I am involved with a group called Envision Maine. Our charter is to: “to accelerate the growth of Maine’s economy by promoting and supporting our entrepreneurs, innovators and visionaries who are the engines of change and prosperity, and positioning the state as a place where businesses thrives.” Maine actually has a history of independent individuals building small businesses, but with some resistance from the life style folks that do not want anything to change. So how do you move the state forward even if it is only 1.3 million people over 35,000 square miles?
The model being used:
>>ENVISION: Convene people across the state, stimulated by dreamers and doers, to develop a common, optimistic view of Maine’s future. Have a broad base of innovative thinkers and leaders excited to move forward and willing to help. Get people talking about it.
>> EMPOWER: Continue the dialog with partners and expanding constituents with a goal of bringing excitement. The repeated discussions should lead to a vision and actions. The buz should expand to the 10,000 significant influencers of Maine’s direction. Influencers who are relied upon by the top leaders and movers to confirm their direction, and also influential in many other circles across the state. Individuals now feel they do not want to be left out.
>> EXECUTE: With the influencers excited, move them into action to fully engage the rest of the population with proven success, proving the brand promise. Provide recognition to individuals, celebration of early successes and establishing failures as learning opportunities for the next try. Measuring actual results versus goals to demonstrate the positive results is important.
>> EXCEL: Seek boarder outside recognition for the culture change and significant economic success to continue the growth. Focus on the most significant aspects with measure optimization.
Early results look good for Envision Maine. Try this for significant culture changes in your business. Remember, this model or approach can be scaled to your small business or for a specific issue within a larger organization (e.g. driving product quality or customer satisfaction).
