Follow the Leader – Build Your Business Vision In 5 Steps

By Angela Turton

How do you get your team working together in a business?  There are lots of things that you need to have in place, and the most important, in my opinion, is having a shared goal and vision of the future, and to build a team that has complementary values to that vision and to each other.  The resultant culture within the business will see the team pull together as never before, will excite clients and customers, and will engage suppliers and partners.

There are 5 steps to building your vision

  • Get clear on your values. These are the principles that your company stands for, agreed upon by all members of the team, they will form the basis of your team culture.  Run a workshop to determine what your values are, ask questions, and dig deep.  What makes you angry, what makes you upset or triggers your emotions?  You should be able to get these down to 3 or 4 that your whole team agrees on.  You might use different words to describe the value, that’s ok, keep talking and explaining and I am sure you will get to a consensus.  Rupert and I did this exercise recently, we were pretty sure that after 34 years together we would have some values in common, sure enough, we may have been calling our values different names, but we had enough in common to build our business culture.
  • Find your purpose. Why is it that you do what you do?  This is not what you do, but why you do it.  The what is simply a vehicle for the why.  Disney has a purpose to make people happy, that is why they can create films, theme parks, cruise ships, and merchandise.   Apple’s purpose is to think differently, to challenge, innovate and disrupt. That is why you will buy a mobile phone or a music player from a computer manufacturer.  Other computer manufacturers have tried to move into the mobile market and failed.
  • What do you want the future to look like? In an ideal world, if the planets align, what does the future hold?   In 10 years’ time, where will you and the business be? Do not limit your envisioned future to your current reality.  Dare to dream and dream big.  Involve your team, what do they want?  Back to Walt Disney “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
  • Work out your Big Hairy Audacious Goal. This is the overarching goal of your business.  Microsoft had “A computer on every desk and in every home”, Google had “organise the world’s information”  ActionCoach has World Abundance through business re-education” and here at ActionCoach Oakham and Kettering, we have “A business coach in every business in our region”.  What would yours be?
  • Finally, we have your goals, broken down into 10, 5, 3 years and 12, 3, 1 months. These are then broken into actions and tasks.  And just like that, your Vision has become your action plan.

The business owner needs to lead the charge on this. As Jack Welch says in his 8 keys to leadership “Ensure the team see the vision, live and breathe it.   Your team will not be motivated to buy you that big house in the country or your fancy car, but they will follow you if you have a dream that is bigger than you, and the vision and values to push it to fruition.

Need help clarifying your vision or getting your team on board with your dreams? Book a complimentary coaching consultation with me here.