Recently, Ford published to employees and retirees an interesting note on ‘Go Further’, which, apparently, has gone well beyond just a slogan for the cars.
Ford’s even making the slogan emblematic of what it expects of employees, too, which is why we find it interesting. We can’t recall a major company coming out and saying that it expects its employees to do more.
While the communication was intended for Ford dealers, the import is clear for the rest of Ford employees: we expect you to Go Further, too. Several years ago we participated in a Ford employee ranking program to find innovative people within the company (even going so far to evaluate everyone inside the company for innovation), and we suspect this new communication is cut from the same cloth.
Here’s Jim Farley (the worldwide head of marketing and sales), with whom we correspond regularly, commenting on how he views employee involvement: “We need to make it personal. We all have choices at work about what we can spend our time with, and where we can add value. Think about what really what really gets you motivated and excited to come to work each day, and make sure you are putting yourself in that zone more often”.
Well said, Jim.