Section OneOrganizational Direction Creating Confidence
in the Future
When employees are confident about their organization’s future
direction, they are more likely to stay. Thus, setting a clear
direction for the future and building confidence in the vision for
the future should help improve retention.^60 The following
excerpt from Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary
Companies provides an example of such direction:
Merck, in fact, epitomizes the ideological nature—
the pragmatic idealism—of highly visionary
companies. Our research showed that a
fundamental element in the “ticking clock” of a
visionary company is a core ideology—core values
and sense of purpose beyond just making
money—that guides and inspires people
throughout the organization and remains
relatively fixed for long periods of time.... we
describe, support, and illustrate this crucial
element that exists paradoxically with the fact
that visionary companies are also highly effective
profit-making enterprises.^61