The Best Corporate Visioning Story – Ever

As you all know by now, I believe strongly in the importance and power of a corporate vision.  I believe that without it an organization will run in circles and that companies without a vision are, in essence, devoid of leadership.

Well, a few weeks ago Heather Hindle left a comment on my “How to Screw Your Business in One Easy Step” post that I found so intriguing I was compelled to reach out to her and ask her to please share more specifics.

Her story is about how all 1,000 employees at her former company, Maritime Life, were involved in the development of the company’s vision.  I had never heard such a story – and when I read Heather’s account of what occurred I was truly inspired.

Rather than paraphrase her, I am sharing with you today Heather Hindle’s story of her remarkable experience being part of “Odyssey 2000.”  Thanks to Heather’s kindness I was able to interview Bill Black, the CEO who led this Odyssey.  Bill’s account of the process – and what made it so tremendously successful – will run next Monday and Thursday and is well-worth coming back for!   

I hope that you will find Heather and Bill’s stories, perspectives and lessons learned as inspiring as I have.

My goal is that after reading all 3 posts you’ll walk away with ideas and lessons that you’ll want to put to work in your own organizations – some immediately and some that you can begin to integrate as part of a long term strategy.

Why? Because this is truly the best corporate vision story I’ve ever heard…

“Maritime Life, a national Canadian financial services company and the most profitable subsidiary of John Hancock in Boston, had its head office in Halifax, Nova Scotia and I worked there in our marketing department for just over 19 years. During the early 90s our CEO Bill Black led us through an exercise we dubbed Odyssey 2000. My perspective, of course, is from the staff level. Here’s how I remember it.

When we began our Odyssey journey to develop the Vision for the company, we had already cultivated a culture that was committed to customer service and employee satisfaction, and this journey would help us “ink” it with a common language and understanding that would take us into the 21st century. Subcommittees and working groups were struck and each employee (nearly 1000 across the country) was involved in at least one of these to ensure 100% engagement of staff. Communication was key and plentiful with much face time with Bill, who encouraged us along the way and took bold steps to ensure the sincerity of the C-suite was evident. On occasion, Bill would apologize for not getting it right and would re-align our practices and policies with the Vision.

Accountability wasn’t lip service. We felt empowered. An Odyssey Editorial Team was established to ensure accountability to our Vision was practiced throughout the organization. This included an anonymous forum for staff to submit questions or issues with the role of the Odyssey team to investigate these with management and report back to staff. Two-way, open communication was key to the success of the Vision. How we conducted ourselves at every turn was tied to the Vision, including our business strategies, policies, practices and employee performance appraisals.

During the journey, one guiding principle came from a working group in our Toronto office: “If it’s good for the customer and you know it makes sense, then do it.”  These were words we lived by. Understand that “the customer” wasn’t every single customer, but our collective customer. It would be fool-hearty to make a single customer satisfied to the detriment of others or the profitability of the organization. After all, we were in the business of helping Canadians achieve financial security. But, where we saw that something wasn’t quite right, we were empowered to ask questions, make adjustments and change practices. And, if we didn’t feel well enough trained to make decisions, we were empowered to seek education.

Another key piece of the vision was this: satisfied employees, serving satisfied customers results in a profitable organization. I’m paraphrasing here, the actual Vision statement was quite detailed with each piece explained so staff could see how it applied to them.

The result: Our employee satisfaction surveys were consistently in the 90s; a yearly customer satisfaction award for staff was consistently achieved or surpassed; and, we profited and grew, acquiring and merging with other insurance companies and bringing them into our family.

I remember well our first acquisition and the propelling of our status among financial services companies. I believe there were a total of 3 or 4 mergers and acquisitions in 10 years. We were growing by leaps and bounds and with that came growing pains but our Vision carried us. When business decisions were not popular, they shook our “family”. However, we leaned on our Vision and our confidence in management to do the right thing for the greater good. There was a high level of trust in Bill’s leadership, his sincerity and his commitment to the company and our clients.

We were a happy company with happy employees who were authentic brand ambassadors.

You may know that in 2003, Manulife (another Canadian firm) acquired our parent company John Hancock and its subsidiaries. Sadly, Maritime Life did not continue, but the legacy lives on. Everyone who was part of it feels the same. Not just the staff, but also the suppliers we dealt with in Halifax and our many partners. To this day, every time I see a friend from this era in my life there are always wide smiles and warm hugs. It was something special.

The staff of Maritime Life fared well and Halifax is peppered with alumni who have been well trained in the art of doing the right thing. At the end of Maritime Life we received a heartfelt reminder and challenge to continue to live the values and the Vision and take them with us to each organization we went to, whether that was Manulife or another employer.”   ~Heather Hindle

Can you see why I found Heather’s story to be so unique and inspiring? 

Think about how this process transformed the company, created self-described “authentic brand ambassadors” and impacted an entire community. Are there lessons here that can be applied in your own organization? 

Please share your thoughts and insights in the comments…I am looking forward to your perspectives on this story and I know Heather will be reading them as well!

And please come back Monday for my interview with Bill Black (Leadership 101: Values as a Bridge to Vision) on what he did –specifically and purposefully – that made Odyssey 2000 the success it truly was – and how they tripled shareholder value!

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Photo is Fly In To Vision… by Matthew Fang