Creating and communicating your vision is essential in the process of formulating a strategy to direct the pulse of your business. Vision is the view you have for your company’s future. Think of it as building your photo album or YouTube video titled, “A day in the life of my company.”
Vision inspires deliberate and effective action
The process of visioning is creative. Think of the best vacation you have been on. Now think of the time before the vacation, how excited you were, and how you planned for it. Months before you ever got there, you probably thought out every moment and how you were going to live it.
You made checklists of things you needed to bring and things you needed to get. Perhaps you changed yourself with nutrition, exercise, and tanning. You may have honed the skills you would need with a training regimen. Maybe you gave up some things to save for the vacation.
The bottom line: you organized, prepared, and transformed yourself and your life to prepare for something different from your usual day-to-day experience. You created a vision that was a key factor in making your dream a reality.
Communication brings others into the process
When you returned home, you had hundreds of pictures or video clips, maybe with souvenirs to commemorate the experience. You communicated it to others by showing them your pictures and video clips. Maybe you displayed them on your desk or coffee table at work and at home as a reminder of how it changed your life, and so visitors would notice and ask about it. Those closest to you probably knew your vacation details intimately, and may have felt as if they were there themselves. Casual visitors gained insight by seeing your pictures and appreciating your experience.
Business vision needs participation to be successful
You can envision your company’s future in much the same way. Through leadership, you communicate the details of your vision to all associates working with you, including employees, employee families, and trusted advisors. You and your management team plan with eager anticipation. Together, you gather information and identify the skills, technologies, and opportunities you will need. They come to know you more fully. They begin to understand their role in the vision and see themselves in it. They share in the anticipation and participate in the development.
All your associates align themselves with the vision. Everyone practices the skills they will need in their day-to-day work and train for new skills. Everyone limits the resources they need today to help create what they will need in the future. Bottom line? Together you organize, prepare, and transform yourselves and your lives now to create an experience different from your life today. You are envisioning, directing, and creating your company’s future.
Your vision enables others to see where you are going. They learn to share your vision, come to appreciate it, and help you achieve it. Engage your employees, customers, suppliers, policy makers, and other community members, wherever you find that community.