PacifiCare employees Aim High to embrace the corporate vision.

Between 2000 and 2002, PacifiCare Health Systems, one of the leading consumer health organizations in the United States, transformed itself from a regionally focused company that offered only a few products to one that could provide a wide array of products and services to meet the health care needs of individuals, Medicare recipients, and the employees of small businesses and large corporations nationwide.

These efforts included a revamped corporate strategy, the introduction of 20 new commercial products, an aggressive corporate culture change, and the rollout of a brand and advertising program to broaden the Cypress, California-based company's name recognition beyond its traditional markets.

To succeed completely, however, one area needed particular attention: the company's employees. A companywide survey conducted at the end of 2000 (when the efforts were beginning) showed that employees were confused about PacifiCare's business strategy, dissatisfied with the amount of communication from senior management, and worried that the company was not making the changes necessary to compete effectively in the marketplace.

Although ongoing communication efforts helped to significantly improve employee satisfaction with the company and senior management by late 2002, employees still reported that they lacked a concise, easy-to-understand overview of how strategy, culture and brand fit together. They also lacked a compelling vision of how their personal efforts worked with PacifiCare's vision of becoming a leading national consumer health organization.

PacifiCare responded by producing the employee publication Aim High. The booklet succinctly wove the corporate strategy, culture and brand together, providing concrete examples of PacifiCare employees living the brand promise, "Caring is good. Doing something is better." As a main element of PacifiCare's campaign to reengage its employees, Aim High reflected the elements that led to the company's turnaround and ultimately became evident in subsequent employee surveys.

Goals and objectives

Aim High was developed with several objectives in mind:

* Help employees better understand how PacifiCare's corporate strategy connects to and interrelates with its culture and brand.

* Reinforce management commitment to educate and communicate with employees.

* Increase employees' commitment to PacifiCare both as an employer and as a supplier of services to consumers.

These goals continue to drive the implementation of PacifiCare's business strategy. It is not enough for employees to simply know or be aware of the corporate strategy; they also need to be emotionally involved and personally committed to achieving it.

Solution and implementation

Aim High was created as part of an expanded communication effort led by then-new CEO Howard Phanstiel that began in November 2002. Phanstiel asked the corporate communication department to help employees better understand how his three key initiatives-strategy, culture and brand-were linked together.

Aim High was designed as a showpiece that employees could keep at their desks and refer to in the future. Writing was critical to its impact, beginning with the name. Based on the company's new achievement culture, "aim high" served as both encouragement to employees to excel in their jobs and a statement of what was expected of them. In his cover memo to employees accompanying the publication, Phanstiel wrote:

"This small booklet does a great job of illustrating both who we are as a company and who we aspire to be. It expresses how it feels to work here and what we value in ourselves.... From time to time, when you have a few moments, take it out and read through it again. I expect Aim High to become a source of motivation and pride as we continue to transform our company into a leading consumer health organization."

One challenge to creating Aim High was to integrate the thousands of words that had already been written about strategy, culture and brand over the preceding 18 months. The writing had to convey excitement and urgency--Aim High needed to help transform goals and possibilities into commitments and accomplishments. To achieve this, a series of employee vignettes was interspersed within the narrative about strategy and brand. These vignettes provided concrete examples of exemplary employee behaviors that were driving success in PacifiCare's new achievement-oriented corporate culture.

Measurement and evaluation

Aim High was one element in an overall communication effort that helped to significantly enhance employees' understanding of corporate strategy, improve their opinion of senior management, and increase their personal commitment to the company. Results from all-employee surveys in 2000, 2002 and 2003 demonstrated this improvement.

For example, in 2000, employees were asked if they understood PacifiCare's business strategy. When they were asked the same question in 2003, after the publication of Aim High, favorable responses increased by 34 percent. As reflected in the surveys, confidence in senior management increased over the same period by 19 percent, and positive feelings about the future of PacifiCare increased by 29 percent.

Today, PacifiCare is succeeding in its mission to expand both its reach and its services. The company serves more than 3.2 million health plan members and approximately 10 million specialty plan members in the U.S. It offers a variety of consumer-oriented health care and life insurance products. It is currently working to build a best-of-class Prescription Drug Administrator capability in preparation for Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefits program, which will go into effect 1 June 2006.

Tracey B. Kincaid, ABC, is vice president of communications and community affairs for PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., in Cypress, California, USA. She can be reached at [e-mail].