A vision is a clear image of what you want your company to be in a defined period of time, what your goals and aspirations are, and what constitutes success and greatness. The best visions mention who the company serves, what service or products it provides, and how it makes a difference. Creating a vision for your company is basically charting the baseline of what you want your organization to achieve, regardless of any economic or market situations. This has enormous benefits; not only will it provide motivation and clarity as you go about the day-to-day business, but will also act as a constant reminder of where exactly you want to be.
It’s important to remember that a vision is not a strategic plan. Your vision shows you where you want to end up, whereas a plan maps out the route you have to take to get there. Therefore, vision informs any planning and must come first. A clearly defined vision allows you to assess how your company is progressing, and if it’s moving in the right direction.
Success means different things to different individuals and organizations. Only you can know what success means to you personally, and no one is better placed to know what works in the case of your organization than you are. Consider what your objectives are and what your strengths are as you can only reach your objectives by playing to your strengths.
Your Company Vision
Firstly, define your timeframe by deciding whether you’re looking five or ten years ahead, for example. Then examine your organization’s reason for being, why exactly does your business exist? Who are your clients or customers? What are their specific needs? What are their pain points? How do you solve their problem and deliver what they need? Consider these questions carefully, and answer them in detail. This will give a very clear image of where you want to go. Now it’s time to state the specifics of what you wish your organization to achieve. For example, how large do you want your organization to be? How many employees would you like it to have? What corporate values do you represent? What, ideally, do you want to accomplish?
It’s vital to be extremely clear on what kind of business you wish to create. Your vision must detail the organization’s corporate values and the ethics that it wishes to perpetrate. This not only provides a clear moral compass but also injects passion into the vision. Another benefit of a clearly defined company vision is it will assist your senior management and staff in their roles and provide general motivation. A vision for your organization will keep your company on the right track, keep you and your staff enthusiastic and confident of your capabilities in tough times, and ultimately, define your organization’s role in the world.
