When it comes to your company’s vision, every marketing expert will tell you that you need one. And for most visionary-type entrepreneurial leaders, coming up with this vision is pretty simple, but things fall flat when it comes to execution.
“A Vision Without Traction is Simply a Hallucination”
Gino Wickman
This quote by Gino Wickman really illustrates the state I find many entrepreneurial business teams in. The visionary leader has a plan for where they see the business going, but the team does not see the same picture and thus does not act in a unified manner.
Imagine for a moment that I was to walk into your office (assuming that is possible again one day) and find you and your leadership team. If I asked each of your leadership team what they thought the vision for the company is, would I get the same answer from each of them? What if I then asked them exactly how they and/or their department fit into that vision? Would they know?
A solid, actionable vision should be more than a simple mission statement on the wall or in your marketing plan. Your vision should answer three questions for your team, your customers, and anybody interacting with your business …
- Who are you as an organization?
- Where are you going?
- How are you going to get there?
When your team is not operating with the same picture you have for the organization, the result is a massive case of tug-o-war where everybody has competing priorities and is working on different projects. Everyone is “working hard,” but very little gets accomplished.
A good vision should be shared by all if you want to really gain traction in your organization.
