Communication
Visionless Organizations Fail In Communication
By Rose Odengo
Over the past few weeks , I have noticed a pattern in the challenges organizations engaging my services seem to have . The conversations start with challenges in sales , fundraising and social media marketing struggles and reaching the expected audiences .
These are the symptoms of an underlying condition plaguing a lot of companies . The actual ailments are lack or loss of vision and operational flaws . Most of these organizations presenting these challenges operated in silos . Departments didn ’ t communicate - there were role overlaps and operational oversight of functions . Either balls were being dropped , or staff tripped over each other to achieve the same task per their varied expertise . In the meantime , leadership is out trying to build brand awareness and network . What they utter is entirely different from what customers experience on their websites , social media channels or even in media articles .
The organization comes off as confused , and because of that confusion , it is perceived as unprofessional and offers lacklustre products or services . What ’ s funny about disorganization is that it creates a perception of incompetence and inferiority of services or products rendered .
The key word is perception . There is a reason the audience will think that one supermarket ’ s prices are higher than the other when the opposite may be true . It is simply what people believe is true instead of what is factually accurate . That ’ s the power of excellent communication . Whether in marketing or public relations , you are constantly skewing people ’ s understanding and perception of your product or service positively to draw them to a purchase .
Vision
However , you need to understand that your communication or marketing team can only build accurate perception when they fully understand what exactly they
It may sound overly simplistic , but the reality is that vision propels businesses . A strong vision never forgotten and driven by talented , competent teams drives businesses decades and even centuries beyond the founder . The secret lies in never forgetting WHY you start businesses and , in most cases , ensuring that it is stated in simple language a 10-year-old could understand .
are doing and WHY .
American Business Strategist Simon Sinek says , “ People don ’ t buy what you do ; they buy why you do it .” The WHY is the philosophy , the founding story of any organization . Once you are clear on what it is , it will constantly be the wind in your sails that propels you to success .
That WHY is the reason you hire the way you do and do business the way you do . Let me give an example . If you run a farm selling avocados , what drives you aside from money could be the fact that you grew up poor , farming on largescale farms exporting avocados or even pineapples , and in the heart of that poverty , you swore to yourself when you grew up you would be a large-scale farmer and allow others to get out of poverty through agriculture which was looked down on when you were growing up .
Now , with that founder story , you are not just any avocado farmer ; an ethos of poverty eradication drives you . That means your business model may take on the investment in off-takers , providing agricultural extension services , seeds , fertilizer , and other farm inputs and purchasing harvested avocados at a rate higher than the market rate from local farmers .
The Team
That story drove your operational model and started to dictate who you hire . You will employ like-minded people driven by similar ethos who optimize your operations . People who will take on the vision as their own . IT personnel keen on optimizing operations through tech ; scientists who will use the latest insights and technology to improve soil analysis and seed variety and fertilizer ;
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