Starting a business begins with your ‘Vision’ or what it is you want to create.
'Vision' without action is merely a dream.
Without ‘vision’ your business has no direction, no ‘guiding light’.
To build your business you will inevitably need to involve other people. You therefore need to be able to clearly communicate your vision and build a shared vision i.e. get ‘buy in’ to a team objective.
Without a compelling ‘vision’ your business will be chaotic and dis- organised.
In his book ‘Building a Shared Vision’, C. Patrick Lewis summarises the key points about the importance of building a shared vision:
- Visioning is the starting point for total quality management, process improvement, process management, continuous improvement and re-engineering.
- A thoughtfully created and implemented shared vision sustains your commitment to change throughout a change process.
- A vision statement captures an ideal, unique and attractive image of our future and answers the question ‘What do I want to create?’
- In addition to identifying and defining the new tomorrow, shared visioning provides the framework that guides decision making, planning, and action regarding the work situation.
- A shared vision is much more than a powerful tool – it is a strategy and mental attitude for expanding your personal horizons about what can be.
- For many leaders, a shared vision begins as a personal vision, a dream, a stroke of genius, or simply a ‘gut feeling’. For others, it is born of either a combination of intuition and unique insight or a continuous and often chaotic process.
- While hard data may inform, it is soft data that provides insights and wisdom on which to build an effective vision.
- Visioning starts with a clear understanding of the current composition, operation and direction of your job, work environment, unit and the fundamentals of the business you are in.
- The crafting of a shared vision that distinguishes you and your unit is the sum of intuition, personal visions, experiences, judgement, information and values.
- Throughout the visioning process, pause and answer questions to remove any doubts you may feel that it inspires commitment and enthusiasm.
- While the words are very important, it is only after the shared vision is put into action that it acquires the power to change you and your job.
Your vision needs clarity
- To keep the vision alive and meaningful over a period of time requires periodic reviews and updates.
- The shared vision must keep you and your work on the cutting edge of growth.
Here is a link to the page on which I have crafted my own vision statement. I hope this inspires you to craft your own!
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