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Read My Blog: Magnetic North!

Donna Price

Compass Rose Consulting, LLC

Copyright © 2006, Donna Price

As a business owner sharing your vision is a powerful step in building your team and building your business.  As a business owner and business coach, I find vision a significant key to business success.  Staff needs to know what the vision is and what their role in that vision is.  Have you shared your company vision?

Having a strong, clear vision of your business and where you are going is an essential component of building that business.  It goes beyond the daydream of success and deep into what that business will look like.  How you as the owner visualize it.  Am I talking about using visualization? Well certainly that can't hurt and can even help you in manifesting what you want.  But more importantly I am talking about having a clear vision, written down of where you want to go.  Your vision statement becomes your roadmap.  It guides you on your journey.  A clear vision helps you to make good decisions for your business.  Often there are tempting distractions that get us off course.  We decide to add a new product line or create a new service, and down the road we find that it doesn't feel like the right fit.  When we look back at our vision, there it is clear as day.  The new service or product wasn't a part of the vision.  That's why it didn't fit or wasn't successful.  It didn’t fit into the company mission, vision and values.

Sure, we want to be creating new services, new products, new opportunities for business growth, but we want to stay on our path.  If the new service takes us too far off the path then it might not be the right choice and as the owner it's your role to evaluate that.

Do you have a compelling vision?  When you write a compelling vision statement it inspires and motivates.  It has the detail you need to move forward. 

Business owners that have been working with me will tell you that I keep coming back to this with them and in my own business.  What is the vision?  What does the company look like?  What are the services, the clients, the products?  What growth has the company experienced?  What does it feel like, sound like?  Writing a detailed vision that includes all of the emotion helps you to develop a clearer plan.  I recommend writing your vision statement in as much detail as possible.  Write it in the present tense, as if it is happening now.  Include the details of who, what, where, when, how...  And the emotional details – the feelings you have living that vision, the feelings of the clients/customers/staff, what it looks like, sounds like, and smells like.

Once you've created a written vision story, and then make a picture, hang it on your wall where you can see it.  Read your vision regularly, every day if you can. Share the vision story and picture with your staff, your colleagues.  Letting people know what the vision is gives them the opportunity to help you achieve the vision. 

I recently worked with a company leadership team.  The owner shared his vision with the team and staff was surprised.  They stated they had worked there for several years and they didn’t know that was the vision.  When your staff aren’t aware of the vision they can’t be as proactive in making it happen.  They can’t identify their role in the vision.  Sharing your vision, ultimately empowers your staff and helps you to continue build your business.

I have witnessed the power of sharing your vision, both personally and in companies.  When I have shared my vision, I have ultimately connected with the resources I needed.  They can become your partners in making it happen.