This article will give you a new perspective on your company’s vision and how it can be a powerful tool for optimizing the value of your organization.
So, what is a “vision?”
The word itself comes from the Latin “videre,” meaning “to see.” Webster’s first definition is “1a: something seen in a dream, trance, or ecstasy: specifically a supernatural appearance that conveys a revelation b: an object of imagination.”
Author Gene Siciliano has a more useful description for our purposes. He says a vision is “the world as you define it, arranged the way you’d like to see it.” Short, sweet, and to the point.
Another powerful concept connected to vision is “dream.” (Note Webster’s definition above.)
A More Powerful but Underused Term
Jim CastigliaManagement consultants and authors James Morrison and Josh Hammond call it the “Dream Force” and write that “dreams are the lifeblood of America … America has institutionalized the dream process and created a national environment where anything is possible. From the first Pilgrims to new immigrants each day, America is the only place on earth where people come to fulfill their dreams.”
It’s why over six million people have crossed the southern border in the last two years. It’s why my Sicilian grandfather came to America, and Italians still dream of coming to America to fulfill their dreams.
This dream force is very powerful and makes America the dream capital of the world. Use it to give your company a competitive advantage. American poet Carl Sandburg observed, “Nothing happens unless first a dream.”
So your vision/dream places a stake in the ground and tells your employees, “THIS is where we’re going.”
Do your people know your vision? Do they know where you want to go? If yes, are they inspired by this destination?
Is it a vision or dream that they can hitch their wagons to? Is there a way to connect their dreams for income and a ‘psychic’ salary to their jobs in your organization? (Read my articles on motivation from the last several issues.)
This is a compelling way to harness their engagement, energy, and sense of purpose.
The Key Components of a Company Vision
Jim Collins and Jerry Porras authored a Harvard Business Review Classic article titled “Building Your Company’s Vision.”
They write that a corporate vision is composed of two main parts: 1) a core ideology and 2) an envisioned future.
Core ideology is composed of two elements: 1) core values and 2) core purpose. Have you spelled these two elements out and communicated them to all employees? Do you reinforce your company’s values and purpose at every opportunity?
The envisioned future also has two elements: 1) big, hairy, audacious goals or what is called BHAGS, and 2) a vivid description of what it would look like to achieve those goals.
Collins and Porras recommend that BHAGS be 10-to-30-year goals that have the “gulp factor.” Compare your current goals to potential BHAGS.
Lastly, write a passionate, emotional description of how you’d define the achievement of your vision.
Henry Ford brought to life his vision with this description: “I will build a motor car for the great multitude … it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to afford one, and everyone will have one. The horse will have disappeared from our highways, the automobile will be taken for granted … and we will give a large number of men employment at good wages.”
He wrote this in the early 1900s and look at the results.
Spend the necessary time on this critical part of building your business, engaging your people, and optimizing the value of your organization.
Jim Castiglia is the founder of Business Street Fighter Consulting and supports entrepreneurial business owners in their desire to grow and maximize the value of their business. He can be reached by email at JimC@BSF.consulting or by phone at 919.263.1256. Visit www.BSF.consulting
