I was doing some research for
a book I am writing, part of which is about the importance of having a vision.
What has become clear, especially in the UK, is how little understanding there is about this topic. This was brought more into focus whilst watching the
documentary series "The Men Who Built
America", what made them stand out was not only the strength of
their Vision but the fact that they had one at all.
My experience in the UK with owner
businessmen, is that it is quite challenging getting them to understand how important
having a vision is to the long term prosperity of their business. When I give
training courses about leadership of high growth businesses, the section on
Vision is one of the most challenging. This is because I can count on the
fingers of one hand how many business owners actually have thought out what
their vision is, whilst the majority just dismiss it as some sort of consultant
"mumbo jumbo". They simply don't get it.
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| English: DOE Departemental Enterprise Vision (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
I wonder if it’s something about
the British and their cynicism that prevents them from grasping the
value of understanding the purpose of their business. I don't mean from a
personal perspective ie to make money, retire in 5 years, those statements are
just measurements. I mean having a real business Vision: something that
describes what it is about the way you do what you do, that will have customers
flocking to buy your product or service. To paraphrase a comment about George
Bush senior and his struggles with the vision thing "If you don't know where
you want to go why would you expect others to put themselves out to help you
get there?"
That’s essentially the simple great
benefit of having a vision. It is something that you can use to bind your
employees and your customers to you as they will see, understand and share your
Vision and as a result will want to continue to be your customers or employees, to help you get there.
Most of us haven’t found that
vision or purpose and so it is much easier to find a substitute and embrace
someone else’s, rather than to try to uncover your own. By finding your vision
you become one of the few and really separate yourself from your competition.
Once found, it immediately makes decisions easier by simply asking does doing
this move me towards my vision? You will instantly discard those actions to
which the answer is “No”, allowing you to concentrate on those things that
will. This immediately makes your business more effective, as you have a clear
simple process on which to test effort and separate yourself from those who don’t
know where they are going, so, do everything “just in case”
Let’s be honest, uncovering your vision
is difficult and getting it down to a succinct phrase takes a lot of effort.
Do you really think that the famous Disney vision "to make
people happy" came together in a blinding flash? It was developed and
honed over time to something that encapsulated the Vision in a simple sound
bite.
Just because we don't generally think
at this level or in these terms doesn't mean we can’t if we don't put our minds
to it. The first stage is to just put something down and work on it over time
until you think it reflects your purpose.
Here are some examples of small
business visions, but not small, business visions. I asked the members of the LinkedIn
group that I run “managing high growth” if they had a vision and if so what it
was. These were the results. I think these examples are more relevant than
those famous Visions of the large corporates.
In case you’re asking mine is "To
enable high growth businesses to grow faster for longer and with less
stress" Others are “To help clients increase sales and reduce time and
cost” and “To
create an environment where people feel valued”
So
uncover your vision and get yourself clarity in your business, separate yourself from your competition and start being more successful. If you think you'd like some more help in extracting your vision contact me here
Exigent Consulting provides specialist services for Managing High Growth, Business Turnaround, and Mentoring to the Small and Medium Business. We help business owners improve the profit performance of their business.
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