When did you last review your vision? When did you last discuss it with your team? Do your customers know where you are heading?
I spent a few hours this week with a coaching client who wants to refocus his team. We talked about the need for a powerful and compelling vision that will bring unity and buy-in to the team of 27 in the office.
How do you capture the vision of a business?
This was a fun-filled 2 hours of challenging questions. (Okay, it was fun for me!) The other two guys sitting around the table often looked nervous and uncomfortable but, to their credit, they stuck it out. I asked them questions like;
– what is your business currently known for?
– how do you want your staff to describe where they work?
– what dreams do you have as owners
– are there non-negotiable values that are necessary for moving forward?
While these questions only capture a small fragment of what we discussed, my point today is to challenge you all about the power of the vision you have in your business.
To me a business vision can be described as powerful when:
(i) the achievement of it seems almost impossible
(ii) your team buys in to it and believe they can make it happen
(iii) it is visible around the office
(iv) the owner of the business is seen to be leading the charge
Today, a short comment on the first characteristic;
ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE
A Vision has to stretch you, it has to be waaaaaay out there and challenging.
Those businesses who settle for a mediocre, easy to achieve vision are the ones who succeed despite their lack of energy. They make money and enjoy the usual benefits of being in business, but its most likely that they do not have a great impact on the people they touch.
In comparison, those businesses who set out to achieve the scary, impossible dreams are the ones who have a wild adventure on the way to success. There are some fantastic examples in Jim Collin’s work Built to Last and Good to Great. In Built to Last the research team called this “Clock Building”, that is, they talk about the higher purpose of building something that is lasting, not simply something that is functional. When you determine to build something that is lasting you are seeking to create something that has significance. For me, its why we do business – to have a positive (significant) effect on other people.
Vision helps to set the direction far ahead in the future. (I encourage you to read more on this, especially the chapter titled “Big Hairy Audacious Goals”.)
What does this mean for you? I suggest you review your vision to determine if you are building a business that is not just successful, but significant.
“Of all the things I’ve done. the most vital is coordinating the talents of those who work for us and pointing them towards a certain goal.”
Walter Elias Disney, Founder, Walt Disney Company, 1954
Check out the next time when I’ll comment on the remaining three characteristics of a powerful vision.
