The impetus for the growth or change of a company–your company–is VISION. You have a vision of what the company is and what it will become. Without a vision of the future, there will be no change or energy exerted to move the company to that level. The company will remain constant or diminish. Be aware that your vision will not be accomplished by you alone. So, have you told your partners and employees about your vision for the company? Have the partners and employees enrolled in your vision?
Enroll? One of the definitions of ‘enroll” is “to become or cause to become a member”.
An example of enrollment at home: You have a vision of your child (John) achieving better grades in school. You tell the family if John gets at least B’s in all of his classes this semester, the family will go on vacation to Miami. John says “I don’t want to go to Miami, what is there to do there?’ You indicate that we would be driving and we would have to stop at the Kennedy Space Center and Disney World. John now is excited. He has his own vision of Dad’s vision. He is enrolled in working hard in his classes to achieve better grades. He now envisions himself and the family at the Space Center and Disney and can dream of the great fun that will be had on the vacation to Miami. Your real vision was John applying himself and getting more out of his education. John did not see the vision that way; he saw that if he met a goal in school he could have a great vacation. You and John were working towards the same goal which can much easier be attained as you both are enrolled in the vision.
Now let’s look at your business. Whether the vision is to increase sales, reduce expenses, streamline processes, develop new lines of business, or any other, you cannot do this alone. The normal human response is “what’s in it for me?” You must communicate your vision to your partners and employees. You need to speak in a way that they will find something in your vision that they can enroll in and create their own vision that will align with your vision. Each of them must see a benefit for themselves which will motivate each one to work to accomplish the shared vision.
WHAT IS YOUR VISION?
WHEN DO YOU WANT TO REALIZE IT?
HOW DO YOU PLAN TO ACCOMPLISH IT?
NOW YOU HAVE A TOOL TO HELP YOU GET THERE FASTER.
ShindelRock [1] can assist you in developing financial models for your vision and help you to define benchmarks that will allow everyone to track progress toward your goals.