Recently I was talking with a company President and they shared that 2016 had been a record year for them in terms of Revenue and Profits and that things had really come together for them in 2016. But they went on to express their concern for breaking those numbers in 2017.
As I reflected on their concern I realized the more basic question is, what is the necessary ingredient in a company to cause leadership, management and staff to keep trudging up the hill to bigger and greater achievements year after year?
My experience is that this one ingredient is having a “compelling” Vision for where you want to take your company.
However, in some organizations developing or having a Vision, is just something to “check off the list”. It can just be a “yep we did that” thing versus developing and operating based upon having a “compelling” Vision that engages and motivates your entire company on a daily basis.
Definition of a “Compelling” Vision
Let’s break this concept of a compelling Vision into its two components. First the Vision portion:
Vision is the direction or destination of where you want to take your organization. In other words, what does a successful and thriving business looks like to you? This is cannot be a pie-in-the-sky Vision, but a concrete, specific, and detailed description of what you want your company to look like.
Second, “compelling” means that your Vision is so attractive, captivating, and engaging that people are drawn to it.
For instance, Google’s overall Vision is to “organize the world’s information,” and the results of this it can be easily seen in the many game-changing products they have introduced. Likewise, because of their compelling Vision, Google is one of top businesses with regards to employee productivity, and it is one of the most desirable companies for which to work.
There are five audiences for your Vision. A “compelling” Vision for your organization should impact each of these audiences in the following ways. It should be:
- Crucial to Customers
- Essential to Employees
- An Outstanding Opportunity to Owners and Investors
- Significant to Suppliers
- Supportive to Society
Crucial to Customers
Your customer must feel that by dealing with your business they will increase their likelihood of success. Your Vision statement must clearly and unequivocally state the “win” they will receive by dealing with you and by being your customer. They must see that not only are you useful to them, but also that:
- Your product/service is better at meeting their perceived need then your competitor’s product/service
- They can trust you to deal with them in a desirable manner
- The value that they will pay you for your product/service is worth the resulting benefit
The words, word pictures, and images from your Vision Statement of how your business will fulfill a customer’s perceived needs is the most important part of any organizations’ Vision.
Most of us have heard that word-of-mouth advertising is the most effective form of advertising for any business. In order for a customer/client to be an advocate for your business they have to feel that they have entered into an ongoing “win/win” relationship with your organization.
A customer recommending you is much more powerful than you trying to sell yourself to the potential customer— because unlike you, your advocate has less to gain from the experience. You can only create customer-advocates by identifying their needs, exceeding their expectations, and in this process delivering something that they consider to be very good value – which should be part of your compelling Vision.
Essential to Employees
Because a company needs employees to survive and grow, and employees need a business by which to be employed, there is mutually beneficial relationship between your organization and your employees.
Your employees’ engagement in your organization manifests itself in two ways. First, your employee must feel that by working for your company they are a partner with you in serving your customers. Therefore, it is necessary to cast a compelling Vision to your employees so they feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves.
Second, employees want to know you are taking care of them, giving them a fair deal, and in essence providing a “win” employment experience for them. Employees want to feel valued and be a partner with the organization’s “management” in fulfilling its Vision.
Consequently, your Vision statement must plainly and explicitly communicate what the “win” is for your employees. They must see how you plan to take care of them and meet their needs. If both of the areas are properly addressed and included in your Vision statement, then your employees will go the second and third mile for you and your customers.
An Outstanding Opportunity to Owners and Investors
Your company may start with you as the only investor but at some point you may need additional capital. Your Vision and consequently your Vision Statement must entice people to invest.
Additionally, sometime down the road you may want to sell your company. Your Vision Statement should be compelling to potential future owners and investors.
Alternatively, if you are a publically traded company, your Vision should attract people and organizations to purchase your stock. Likewise, with a Not-for-Profit entity – its Vision needs to attract donors.
Keep in mind that part of the attraction of an investor to your organization is how Crucial to Customers and Essential to Employees is your Vision. So the first two ingredients of a compelling Vision have multiple roles.
Significant to Suppliers
An organization cannot exist without suppliers (vendors). Suppliers, in turn, need to have customers for their company to stay alive. Therefore, except in the case where a supplier is so large that you as their customer are insignificant to their revenue stream, there is a stakeholder relationship between your organization and its suppliers.
The goal is to engage your suppliers in such a way as to make them want to provide you with the best products/service and customer service.
I have found that when you communicate your organization’s compelling Vision to your key suppliers they will respond positively to big requests and sacrifices. This is because they can see how meeting your needs in more than just an average way will in turn enable them to achieve their goals.
Sharing your compelling Vision for how your company can allow them to achieve their goals will entice them to go the second mile for you because they can see how doing this will ultimately enable them to grow faster and be more profitable. Wal-Mart regularly does this with their suppliers and that is why its suppliers go the extra mile to meet Wal-Mart’s needs.
Supportive to Society
The Vision for your organization should demonstrate how your company is now and will make the society in which it operates and the world in general a better place.
A company should not only want to achieve its internal goals, it must figure out and then execute the plan for how it will positively impact society. This includes determining and stating the tangible ways it will strengthen the society in which it exists.
Because of their size, the area of an organization being Supportive to Society is more important to larger companies because of their public profile and the need to be a “good corporate citizen”.
It is important to note that a significant part of being Supportive to Society is how well a company meets its customer’s needs and takes care of its employees. So the first two ingredients of a compelling Vision also have a key impact in this area.
If you need assistance with how to develop and implement a “compelling” Vision that addresses all five audiences of a Vision for your organization, please contact us using the below information so we can show you how to make this a reality for your company.
Fountainhead Consulting Group, Inc. is an Innovation and Business Planning firm. During the past 17 years we have shown over 1,200 companies how to achieve their goals by using our unique, comprehensive and systematic, innovation, business planning and growth Structure of Success™, Innovation Academy™ and FastTrak Innovation Program™ methodologies. Using the components in these methodologies, each month we examine an aspect of how to transform your business or organization into a true 21st Century operation.
Office phone: (770) 642-4220
www.FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
George.Horrigan@FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
Tags: Business Planning, entrepreneur, front end of innovation, innovation, invention, small business consulting, small business planning, start a business
