That Vision Stuff — Really?

Vision, mission, values, purpose — Huh?  Too many leaders get sucked into endless word-smith battles about this set of words.

Instead, what emerging and transitioning companies — as well as exit-planning business owners — need is a set of conversations, no, dialogues (that means listen first and argue later) about the ideas that guide their choices, behaviors and their future:

1. who they are, (what business are we in?)
2. towards what end, (to what do we aspire?)
3. for what greater value or purpose (to others?)
4. and with what guiding principles (how do we behave in achieving this?)

There is no interactive APP that will spin these words out. It’s a human process taken on by those who want to ensure a deep and shared understanding of identity by those who build their business — from top to bottom.

Where to Start

It starts at the top with the leader’s gut sense about those questions. Sometimes the “I don’t do vision well” folks need to have a trusted advisor who asks good questions, listens, tests the sense of it by playing it back and even challenges the integrity of the thinking (do the words match behaviors?) Recent research confirms the criticality of the leader as “the initiator and challenger, providing the organization with the continuity required to stay the course.”

Sometimes, a leader has a good sense of their answers but isn’t sure how to create shared understanding. That presents an opportunity to build ownership and cohesion with a senior team.  And often a company as a whole must chew on these questions, with guidance from the top, so that people not only have shared meaning but pride, commitment and a sense of direction. Currently 70% of employees cannot tell you their company vision.

When to Start

If any of the following circumstances fit you, then you need to work the vision stuff.

• You’re emerging from the proof of concept stage and have a real customer! You can see a future even if you aren’t sure how to finance it yet. You know you need to put a few more people on your team. They want to hear you state clearly the what and why of the business.
• You’ve been merged or acquired or are in a turn-around, perhaps with new leadership. Maybe you’ve experienced a major product failure even though there is a healthy pipeline. There is ambiguity or apprehension about what’s it all mean?
• You’re experiencing more growth than you can handle. You’re putting new people and processes in place to keep your head above water — and you’re hearing concerns in the ranks expressed as: “It’s not fun here anymore”; “We’ve lost our vision”; even, “The bureaucrats are taking over.”
• You’ve known for a while that you need an exit strategy and are struggling with how to start and how to communicate to key stakeholders.

Defining the answers to my four initial questions here is not a one-time off-site followed by a poster-hanging party with beer and pizza. Nor is it something you can outsource to a PR firm –“write me a tag line.” And you won’t find it in the scope of work of a sales broker. Instead, it’s a thoughtful yet efficient and customized process that must fit your leadership and environment.

An outside, trusted facilitator can design and support the work so that it not only creates a meaningful result but builds trust within, and credibility of, you and your senior team with your people and with your customers.

A personal story

When I started my consulting firm I had a simple one-page business plan plus a page that included my vision, purpose and the values I believed in. It guided my strategy and talent acquisition and, of course, how I talked about the value contribution of our services with clients. It was worked and reworked over time as new partners came into the business and as we grew in size, reach and offerings.

After about 13 years we began to plan for my eventual exit in five years. Once again I had to think about that vision stuff, for example:

• what was I hoping to leave behind i.e. my legacy?
• what should the exit process and experience be — with partners, clients, and our extended group of affiliates?
• what came next for me, personally, post-departure?

Some of the answers came from working with a stellar exit-planning consultant; some came from discussions with my team; and others from laboring by myself or with my family. It took effort and diligence.

A few rules

1. Your answers to the four questions (e.g. our vision is… or we exist to…):

• should take effort to create but not to remember or understand,
• are aspirational but not implausible,
• create a common identity and pride of community (internally and externally),
• provide the headlights and guardrails for independent and collective action,
• give meaning to peoples’ efforts in good times and bad.

2. The process must be one that the top leaders willingly engage in vs. labor on without conviction.
3. It must be authentic i.e. it aligns with the actual strategic goals, decisions, policy and actions that a firm takes. It means taking an on-going examination of the integrity of the words in action.

The Vision Stuff is as essential as an operating plan and a budget.  You don’t put those tasks off either.  They are all pillars of your business providing the direction and guidance for individual and collective action.  Ask yourself:

 

What have you done to clarify the aspirations, identity and culture of your company, whether you are leading an emerging business or ensuring your legacy when you leave it?