By Gabriel Bristol
Whether you have one or two employees who work from your garage, a handful who work from a warehouse, or hundreds ensconced in different offices across the globe you face many of the same challenges and ultimately ask a variation of the same question. How do you effectively lead your team and spur them on to success?
Being a good Chief Executive Officer or Chief Everything Officer means you absolutely have to have a vision and be able to confidently share that vision. Yes, you have to have an understanding of your company’s finances and its resources and yes you have to understand your sales and marketing strategies as well as your key customer service metrics, but most importantly you need to understand where your company is going and how you plan to get there. You also need to be able to share this vision and get buy-in from your employees.
Here are three ways vision improves your company:
1. Vision Improves Productivity
The vision or direction of the company affects the goals we set and many of the decisions made to achieve those goals. If your team knows and gets the vision, they will understand the choices that are made. They will also begin to take their own steps toward those goals organically, without any prompting.
2. Vision Improves Morale
There will be periods when sales are slow, inventory is low, customer dissatisfaction is high, or a key employee is missing in action. During these times you have to keep morale high and rally the troops. It may seem simple, but reminding everyone, including yourself, what the vision is can help keep everyone focused on why they are doing what they are doing and what the ultimate goal is.
3. Vision Creates Opportunity
When other companies know where you’re going and what you’re doing, they may just decide to reach out and partner up. When the word gets out about your corporate vision, whether it’s through the various communication modalities or even employee word-of-mouth, it’s not uncommon for opportunities to come your way. This is the purest form of organic marketing and can help your company grow.
As your vision takes shape, you may find that it morphs along the way. That’s ok. Don’t be afraid to adapt in order to exploit new opportunities.
Just remember, if the vision changes, and becomes bigger, or more focused, be sure to continue to communicate that to your employees and get their buy in.
Gabriel Bristol is president and CEO of Intelicare Direct and is a highly sought-after public speaker at corporate events and frequent contributor to business strategy publications. Twitter: @Gabriel_Bristol.
