WHY YOUR VISION MATTERS
Written by Jessica Murray
Do you have a clear vision?
If you’ve started a business, you’ve likely developed a vision internally about the direction you want the company to go.
Have you gone further than that — is the vision written down?
Or is this plan you have for the future just swirling around in your head?
If the conversation about your business’s vision has stopped with you, and you’re wondering why your team isn’t “bought in” or “rowing in the same direction,” the root cause of your struggle may be staring you in the mirror.
You took the first major step: developing a vision. You have a clear picture of what the business should achieve in the future.
You understand a North Star impacts your ability to:
Maintain focus on the right things and drive decision-making.
Provide a means to motivate and inspire you to stay on this journey.
Differentiate from competition.
Attract talent, customers, investors and other key stakeholders.
Build a cohesive brand identity and narrative.
But, if a vision, or a distilled down vision statement, is supposed to guide your business, how can it be effective if you’re the only one who knows about it?
Answer: It can’t — and won’t.
The business’s vision should be communicated to every team member and new hire, and be reinforced regularly so there’s no ambiguity and better decisions can be made.
Tips for communicating and integrating your vision
Different approaches work for different businesses when it comes to spreading vision awareness, but several consistent elements will make the process more impactful.
Use language everyone can understand
Avoid jargon and complexity when it comes to sharing your vision. Simplicity is your best friend here.
Make it memorable
Alongside ensuring the vision easy to digest, make it stick. How can you develop a concise vision statement everyone can easily remember?
Create a compelling narrative
Once you have common language and a memorable vision statement, craft the broader story to helps frame the vision and the “why” behind it.
Communicate via multiple channels and do it frequently
Reciting the vision once in a team meeting won’t do the trick. If you want people to believe in it, then they need to hear about it often, see it surface different places and be able to connect how their work contributes to getting there.
Lead by example
You and other leaders must demonstrate how the vision drives the actions and decisions for the business.
Integrate it into daily operations
The vision should be reflected in business goals and day-to-day activities. This means your team shouldn’t merely be executing tasks, it should be working on things aligned to long-term objectives. Goal setting, system and process design, success metrics, hiring, training and onboarding are all aspects, though not an exhaustive list, to build with the overarching vision top of mind.
Collecting feedback and evolving as necessary
While you, as the business owner or founder, are the architect of the vision, I encourage you to be open to bottom-up feedback and willing to evolve it as needed over time.
Vision as the foundation
Your vision isn’t just a well-written document or a pithy one-liner. It serves as an important foundational tool to guide your direction and success.
If you don’t get it out of your head and effectively disseminate it to the right people, you’ll struggle to:
Build a differentiated strategy and value proposition.
Maintain unified direction and focus.
Inspire confidence in your team.
Clarify the most important short-, medium- and long-term goals.
Enforce accountability and ownership across the team.
Develop a strong culture.
Drive consistent and predictable growth.
Take the time to release your creative genius onto paper — and share it. Then, integrate it into the fabric of what you do. When your vision is clear, your team will know where to go.