Research and experience clearly point to three factors critical for entrepreneurs to strengthen their companies: Vision, Strategy and Execution. Vision leads to greater clarity. Strategy leads to greater alignment. Execution leads to greater accountability.
This post looks closer at the Vision Factor. When you spend time strengthening your vision factor, you get everyone in the company 100% on the same page and rowing in the same direction.
At one time, you had a vision for your company. That’s likely why you started, bought or inherited your business – you wanted to take it somewhere. You had a vision in mind of what it would become, where it would go. Perhaps your business has evolved.
Whatever the case, clearly understanding and articulating your vision for the organization is one of the most important factors toward building a great company. Beyond that, your people must understand where the organization is headed for them to effectively participate. Many studies have shown that employees become disengaged once they no longer understand the direction of the company and how they can contribute.
The vision factor focusses on understanding two huge pieces. First, we seek to understand who you are and why you exist. This is the overall core purpose (sometimes called vision or mission), core values, and core competency. These are “fixed” and rarely change within an organization. Understanding the four pieces is critical toward your journey to a great company as they drive your culture and help identify the right people for your company.
Second, we seek to clearly articulate who we serve, what we offer and what our customers get. These include our core market, core offering, core differentiators and core value proposition. This helps everyone in the organization clearly understand our target markets, product and service offerings and the value we provide. On top of this, we like to map out the Core Journey – sometimes called a proven process and sometimes called a customer journey. Again, this gets everyone in the organization on the same page.
Once you spend time clearly defining your Vision Components, you are on the way to strengthening your company and gaining greater clarity.
