A vision is just the start of your journey
Whilst working with a client on a vision for their business this week I was struck by our discussions and the whole concept of creating a vision that really works. My client is a very positively minded business owner with very progressive ideas on how to drive her business forward, yet the recurring theme was ultimately how to convey her vision to her staff and get them to buy in to it, and then live it.
This triggered an interesting discussion in to framing your vision as really the start of a journey and most definitely not a finite solution. Conceiving and writing your vision is only the first step on a long and hard journey to achieving it.
Is this part of the problem with our industry? In that we fail to focus on the fact that, yes it is critical to have a clear vision, or an “invincible vision” as John Boyle of Boyle Sports so brilliantly describes it, but that it takes an inordinate level of commitment and execution to bring this vision to life.
Conceiving and believing can only get you so far you must actually move to action, hourly, daily and weekly.
I am reminded of a Tears for Fears song lyric “I think it’s kinda funny, I think it’s kinda sad, but the dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had”.
I meet too many people every week who share this vision for the life and their businesses.
Be positive, think big, think growth, your business will only die if you believe it will. Never think this way. Change your vision now.
Back to our discussion. We really dug deep to explore a vision that was ambitious, challenging and inspirational and importantly could become an integral part of the culture and philosophy of the business. These are always great sessions as achieving absolute clarity on where you want to go is the foundation of every successful business.
Remember to use the “Magic Wand” exercise and imagine what your business, could, would and should look like 5 years from now. Imagine that you have no boundaries on your ability to create the perfect business for you. You have no restrictions either financially or operationally. You can have the perfect team at your disposal, and the perfect product or service. Imagine what this would look like, feel, and how this would positively affect you. Write it down.
The issue is that I think for most business owners this is where the process stops. They print it, laminate it and frame it, forget to talk it, walk it and live it, and definitely forget to bring their team along on the journey.
Firstly tell everyone in your organisation about the vision, why it has been created, why it is important, why they need to share it, and ultimately why if they don’t share it they won’t fit in. Your team are the only people who can deliver it and in order to deliver it, they must believe it.
Explain that it is just the start of a journey, and that the real work starts now, delivering it. Show them by your actions and your words that you will eat sleep and drink this vision daily. Show them through your resolve that you won’t give up on it just because they have.
This is critical because as soon as you waver you will lose your team also. Of course there will be times that you’ll feel it was all for nothing, when apathy creeps in and nobody seems motivated, but this is when you must really keep your faith in your vision, remember it needs to be invincible.
The defining principle of truly successful people and businesses is always the ability to crystallise a vision and never give up on it. Never give up.
Best of luck
Ronan Kilroy
