If your team’s struggling to except change, excite them with a new vision …
Back in 2008 Josh Silverman took over at Skype when the company was facing major challenges.
Skype was struggling to maintain its growth, since pioneering free computer to computer calls.
Silverman bet the house on full screen video calls, announcing a radical goal to release their new video feature within the year.
The Skype team thought it was too big of a change. Saying the timeline was too short, quality will be poor & people wouldn’t like it.
Instead of trying to calm fears, Silverman decided to excite, by developing a new Skype vision to get them inspired about video.
Citing. ‘It’s not about making cheap phone calls. It’s about being together when you’re not in the same room.’
The vision came alive when Silverman used real Skype customers to recount what the video feature meant to them.
An engaged couple told how they survived a year separation because of Skype video & a service man explained how It helped him keep a close relationship with his children.
Seeing what a difference Skype video could make in the world, engaged his team with the mission.
It’s was the same for us when we transformed into an office technology solutions business.
Changing hearts and minds was hard. But an exciting vision ‘to make office technology solutions affordable to all’ really galvanised & focused the team.
Once the team started to see our customers accessing the right technology in an affordable, simple & honest way. They fully committed to the mission.
…it was the right bet, as Microsoft bought Skype for a cool $8.5 billion just 3 years later.
