In an age where increasing amounts of time and money are spent on finding what is different about your business, I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on the underlying components that are common across all great businesses. Over a series of posts, I’ll be discussing the 6 key components that every business has and when strong, they springboard you from middle of the pack to success.
In his books Good to Great and Built to Last, author Jim Collins talks about the commonalities of organisation that have stood the test of time and consistently outperformed their peers. One of the most important factors is being able to answer the question – who do we want to be when we grow up? This may seem like an obvious question, but it is far too common for business owners and their leadership teams to be spending their days with their noses to the grindstones being “busy” with no context of why they are doing what they are doing.
Some teams have paused for a moment, actually taken the time to get clear on what the vision is for the business but then promptly return to their previous habits and quite quickly the clear vision is dispersed and forgotten.
For me, the first step in getting clear on your Vision starts with understanding who you are now. What are the Core Values of the business? What are the characteristics and behaviours of your best staff that if you had 10 more people just like them, you could conquer your market hands down?
Next you should look at the focus of the business. Are you trying to be all things to all people or have you found the area of speciality (your Niche) that allows you to bring your Why (to draw on Simon Sinek’s awesome work on the Golden Circle describing your purpose) to life?
Thirdly, what are you aiming for? Do you have a Big Hairy Audacious Goal that is dragging you forward towards the horizon? Whilst the time frame may vary from 8 to 35 years, think of this as your 10 year target.
Identify your ideal clients – namely who are they, where are they, what do they look like and why do they like doing business with you.
Once identified, seek to simplify the way you describe the journey you will take them on with your process of doing business. Round this out by clearly stating what promise you will make to remove doubts and friction in the sales process. Keep in mind this can’t be an empty promise, it has to have consequences for you if you don’t deliver.
Next is an area where things start to drift for many teams. How do you bring the long term view down to the ground and deliver on it? First step is to draw a 3-year picture. What does the business look like 3 short years from now? What are the key metrics and 15 bullet points that sketch out what the company looks like in a way that everyone sees the same picture?
Bringing this even closer to reality is then to craft the 1-year plan. What are we doing over the next 12 months to take a big step towards the 3-year picture? What are our priorities? What are the 5 things that must happen at a company level for this year to be a success?
During our day to day, 12 months can seem like a very long time, so how do you keep things on track? You achieve this by breaking the annual goals into quarterly rocks. What are you setting as a priority for the next 90 days that will advance the 1-year plan?
Last of all, what are the other things floating around in your head, causing distractions, taking up your mental and emotional energy, distracting you from focusing on what’s important?
Rather than pretending they aren’t there, simply acknowledge them by compiling them into your Issues List and move on. By getting them out of your head and down on paper, you are clearing your mind, so you can focus on what you’ve agreed is important knowing that you can revisit those issues once your commitments have been met.
By addressing each of these 8 areas or questions, you round out your Vision for the business and bring clarity to where you are going with an executable plan to get there.
What has been your experience with setting and realising your Vision? I’d love to get your comments below.
If you’re ready to make positive change, the first step is to schedule a free 90 Minute Meeting. Book a 90-minute consultation with Us today.