As a small business owner you know that often it can feel awfully lonely at the top. You often lay awake in the middle of night thinking about your business and wishing you had someone to turn to for business advice. We understand. We have been there. Here are opinions, thoughts and experiences to help you thrive in any economic climate. If you like what you read please leave a comment and forward this to other business owners.
Showing posts with label Vision Statements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vision Statements. Show all posts
Regardless of the economic times, leaders need to inspire a shared vision - for their key stakeholders - employees, customers, partners and potentially the communities where you live and work.
Visions don't hvae to be grand designs in order to motivate and inspire people. A vision pulls people forward. It projects a clear image of a possible future. It generates the enthusiasm and energy to strive toward that goal.
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s vision had the power to better the lives of us all and to change the course of our nation.
Winston Churchill's vision had the power to pull the British people through the darkest days of World War II when they fought Hitler alone.
All inspiring visions offer the following attributes:
Ideal - a high standard to aspire to
Unique - pride in being different, an identity
Image - a concept or mental picture made real or tangible through descriptive language
Future Oriented - a map of the journey and statement of the goal ahead
Common Purpose - a way people can join together
In order to inspire and motivate, a vision must be communicated in a clear and lively form. It myst be expressed in a simple and direct way that moves and touches people. Leaders breathe life into their visions and values by using things such as metaphors, examples, quotations, analogies, slogans and anecdotes.
When leaders effectively communicate avision, it has very powerful results. When visions are effectively communicated you will see -
I was having dinner with friends over the weekend and were started talking about upcoming travel or tripe we wanted to take. One friend had just returned from India, another couple was just in Thailand and I had been in Mexico. Africa came up and while I have already been to Africa twice, I was sharing that I had to go to Africa at least twice more – once to see the mountain gorillas and the other to see the great pyramids in Egypt. The more we got into the conversation, the more I started mapping the pyramids to small businesses.
How could I make a leap like this? Well, in order to construct the pyramids, the teamwork required b y the labor force (which was anywhere from 20,000-30,000 people at a time) was, well nothing short of amazing. The architecture is extremely sophisticated. In this case, the architecture is equivalent to the business plan. The Egyptians knew their strengths and weaknesses – no doubt about that.
When it came to the actual construction, well the Egyptians were specific in what they had to do, when and how. Think about it – they figured out how to move very large, heavy blocks of stone, and not just move them but move them to the required height. While there is dispute as to how they did it, they figured out how to build ramps on an incline so they could move the blocks of stone. I always admire innovation. If you understand your strengths and weaknesses (not to mention opportunities and threats – SWOT) then you can create your architecture or plan. Many business owners let the challenges of achieving their plan get in the way of planning so they either don’t plan at all or the plan isn’t as aggressive as it should be. Just think – if the Egyptians had let the challenges of building pyramids get in the way of their elaborate design, then we wouldn’t have them to appreciate and wonder in amazement. Once you know what you want the final outcome to be (your company vision), you don’t have to figure out how to get there right away. In fact, you won’t! But you can start by breaking down the first steps into bite size baby pieces and then build from there. The Egyptians figured out how to build their pyramids so you can build your company. You just need to update your SWOT, create your company vision and then focus on breaking things down into bite size baby steps that most likely will take you years to achieve. Just think – you are building your own pyramid/monument.
I haven’t schedule my trip to Egypt for anytime soon but I do have the architecture or business plan in place that lets me know when I will be able to go!
A couple of weeks ago I was with a group of executive coaches and facilitators who are part of The Alternative Board (TAB) from the U.S., CN, the UK and Venezuela. We were talking about Company Vision Statements and it became clear to us that there was a lot of confusion amongst business owners regarding Company Vision Statements and Mission Statements. So, here is a definition of a Vision Statement, a Mission Statement and what should go into a Vision Statement.
A Company Vision Statement provides the destination on the roadmap that tracks where you want your company to go. The Company Vision Statement is shared with all employees. A Vision is defined as 'An Image of the future we seek to create'.
A Mission is defined as 'Purpose, reason for being'. Defined simply "Who we are and what we do". So the Mission statement does not cover where you are going or where you want to take your company.
Vision Statements are difficult to write - they should short (100 words or less), clear, vivid, inspiring and concise without using jargon, complicated words or concepts. Successful Statements are memorable and engaging. Some companies will combine their Mission and Vision Statements into one. That becomes very confusing.
What should go into your Company Vision Statement? Here are a few ideas on what you can include in a Vision Statement. Remember, it needs to be short – 100 words or less.
What market position do you want to achieve? Biggest in your market, the best in the market
What does the company do or what do you want your company business to be? IT Consulting, Menswear, Transportation
What markets do you want to do business in? Global, North America, Region, City
Do you focus on any particular market segment? Business owners, Retail companies, Females, Elderly
How do you want to treat your stakeholders, (customers, employees, vendors, etc.)? Open book management, Treat as a partner, Customer is always right, etc.
Corporate culture. Welcomes and initiates change, Creativity-Innovation, Strong Teamwork
You can add a mission if you have one (but as I mentioned that can get confusing). We do it right the first time at a great price
Writing your Company Vision Statement is important! I encourage you to work on it with your management team or other key stakeholders. Without a clear Vision Statement that everybody understands how do you know where you are going? Typically you don’t and you end up coming in with a different idea every week that you are sure will help you succeed. Planning is critical and without a written Vision Statement it is hard to put effective plans in place.
Share your Company Vision Statement by commenting on this post.
Blair Koch’s professional career spans more than twenty years as an executive, entrepreneur and trusted business advisor to presidents, CEOs and business owners.
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