Building a shared vision
You may have heard the saying “managing a business with your eye solely on profit is like playing tennis with your eye on the scoreboard.” In reality, the following chain of focus will ultimately drive profit in your business:
Profitability and Growth
Customer Loyalty
Customer Delight
Value
Team Productivity
Commitment and Systems
Team Happiness
Internal Quality
Leadership
Vision From this you can infer that one of the most critical things in making your business grow is “the vision.” It might seem to be “soft stuff,” but it’s the stuff that leads to success. In fact, in our studies of those businesses who have been most successful, one common trait we’ve identified is that they have addressed the issue of creating a vision—and sharing that vision with their team and their clients.
A few well-known examples of highly successful businesses can illustrate the power of a shared vision.
Microsoft: “A computer on every desk and in every home, all running Microsoft software.”
Ford Motor Company: “Quality is Job 1.”
McDonald’s: “Service, Cleanliness, Quality, Value.”
Southwest Airlines: “Arrive on time at a reasonable price.”
Sony Entertainment: “To create a product that becomes pervasive, worldwide.”
Federal Express: “Guaranteed Overnight Delivery.”
A shared vision presents a clear picture of where everyone agrees the organisation is going and how it intends to get there.
How Do I Start Developing a Shared Vision in My Business?
In his book, Building a Shared Vision—A Leader’s Guide to Aligning the Organisation (Productivity Press, 1997), C. Patrick Lewis defines a shared vision as “something that provides the framework that guides all decision making, planning and action.” He says that an effective start towards building a clear, focused and shared vision requires careful thought and action, and suggests the following steps to begin:
1. Learn all you can about the organisation and the marketplace it’s in, its past vision and corporate culture
2. Think about tomorrow and future business developments, focusing on potential changes in the market, stakeholders and products
3. Identify all stakeholders that will be affected by the vision and enlist these groups in forming the vision
4. Develop target goals for the vision, including what you need to do to get there
5. Focus on success so that every team member feels they are part of something special
6. Prepare to invest in the necessary resources to support the vision
7. Abandon the top-down theory of decision-making
As you can see by these steps, it is important that everyone in the business, from key executives to first-level personnel, buy into the vision, providing a significant opportunity for collective decision making and synergy.
What Should a Vision Statement Look Like?
After you have performed the steps above, and you’re ready to write down your shared vision statement, keep the following criteria in mind. Your vision statement must be:
Imaginable: Conveys what the business will look like
Desirable: Appeals to the long-term interests of key stakeholders
Challenging but feasible: Realistic and attainable
Measurable: Allows key elements to be measured
Focused: Can be used to guide decisions
Flexible: Allows individual interpretation and initiative, but always subject to an overall set of guiding principles
Communicable: Can be explained and understood by all stakeholders
Strategic: Makes strategic sense, and possesses internal integrity to avoid dysfunction
Putting all of these elements together will form the foundation for distinguishing your organisation in the marketplace.
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