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A Reliable Process to Define and Implement Your Vision for the Future

Ever struggle with trying to clearly discern and define a realistic and viable vision for the future of your organization? Many leaders lead "by-the-seat-of-their-pants." They're actively engaged in the daily duties of managing, directing and supervising but often perform these responsibilities without any clear understanding of how they are shaped by the organization's vision of its future or how their successful execution will help bring about that vision. They're in a canoe (the organization) in a swiftly moving river (the competition) without a paddle (the vision) going with the flow (the economy) and hoping for the best but doing very little to effectively prepare for it.

Without a clearly defined and communicated vision for both the short- and long-term future of the organization, it makes no difference what you do or how well you do it. Achievements have little lasting impact on the continued viability of the company. There is little coherence of accomplishments among business units and a lack of consistency in results. Momentum is attained in fits and starts and not focused in a single direction but scattered in all directions canceling out any ground gained. Managers without a clear vision merely "manage to manage" with one foot on the accelerator and the other on the brake. Employees' motivation (motives to take action) is centered in personal preferences rather than in the collective vision. Enthusiasm for the tasks at hand is low and people mostly go through the motions as in treading water, rather than working to create any momentum toward a common destination. People look for ways just to get by (get by the boss, get by the clock, get by accountability, get by assuming additional responsibilities) rather than mutually "getting to the goals."

Using the Process - A Case Study

The owner and CEO of a medium sized business was experiencing personal difficulty in relating to his employees and managers. He struggled with finding the right ways to motivate them to perform at the level he expected.

We first worked on clearly defining his vision for his organization AND ITS PEOPLE AND CUSTOMERS by means of interviews not just with the CEO but also with his company's employees, stakeholders, customers and prospects. Then we focused on effective ways to consistently and persistently communicate this vision throughout the organization and to its customers and prospects. All daily operating processes and policies were re-designed to be practical expressions of this vision. Each policy and process was described in specific and concrete language. Creative ways in which individual employees could manifest the corporate vision were detailed along with the policy and process descriptions.

Employees felt they were "in the know" about what was happening and "in the loop" as to why. They became aware of how their respective job responsibilities contributed to the realization of the vision and the accomplishment of corporate and departmental goals. They were encouraged to be creative in developing methods, techniques and tactics in their respective jobs that would serve to "flesh out" the future vision in the present. They were asked to document these innovative approaches for others to use, as well.

The final stage involved working with managers and supervisors to instill simple but effective communication techniques and processes for improved inter-departmental teamwork. The motto of the company became, "None of us knows as much as all of us know about the company and our customers." The company increased its profits and customer satisfaction ratings, decreased its overall expenses and turnover rate while practically eliminating its internal conflict.

All Tenses Must Be Involved

This process is both practical and reliable in identifying, defining, describing and implementing any organization's vision for its future. It must involve all tenses: it must include all those who have had, now have and will have anything to do with the organization, both inside and outside of the organizational structure. When in doubt about the appropriateness of an individual's inclusion in a survey or other feedback-gathering instrument, include them anyway. Their input will prove to be invaluable for helping shape and create the future you want.

All Personal Visions Must Be Involved

The vision for the organization must encompass and be informed by the personal visions of the individual employees, customers, prospects and stakeholders of that organization. When your work does the "double duty" of helping realize your own as well as the organization's vision, the nature of work transforms into a passionate pursuit of quality achievement in as brief a time period as possible. Momentum is established toward a specific destination and the daily tasks of management become much easier because everyone is now self-motivated toward accomplishing individual as well as corporate goals.

This process of defining and implementing your vision for the future will help get your organization to the point where every employee not only knows the vision by heart but also actively and eagerly works daily toward realizing it by coming up with creative ways in which they can personally bring the future into the present.

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