The Truth About Re-envisioning the Future of Your Company

William S. Kane

If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, You Won’t Get There

It might surprise you to know that with a few words, your team will likely experience higher job satisfaction, motivation, commitment, loyalty, pride, and productivity.

What words could generate such resounding results?

The answer is your vision. And if effectively developed and communicated—addressing the broader organizational questions, “Why are we here?” and “Why is it important that we’re here?”—it can move mountains.

Early in his presidency, John F. Kennedy shared his vision for the U.S. space program by challenging the scientific community to reach the moon before the turn of the decade. While his proclamation had its skeptics, the message galvanized the scientific community around this unprecedented picture of the future.

When leaders articulate a vision in this manner, it serves four key purposes. First, it clarifies, articulates, and defines the purpose of the entire organization. Second, it serves as a motivator and a directional beacon for all followers. Third, the words implicitly or explicitly prompt people to action through their desire for affiliation with a noble cause. Fourth, it invites feedback that can be evaluated and processed.

Whether you’re creating or revitalizing an organization—a manufacturing site, shipping department, service call center, or local bank branch—you need to have a vision.

An effective vision has several unique characteristics. It must be compelling and plausible, as it must be translated into organizational realities. It must allow followers to imagine the desired future state of the enterprise, serving the long-term interests of all constituents. It must have focus such that followers will understand it as the basis for all future decision making. It must be relatively simple, easy to communicate, and easy to explain. It must be ambitious and inspirational, having both intellectual and emotional appeal.

It may focus upon excellence, industry leadership, continuous improvement, quality of life enhancements, noble cause, societal responsibility, stakeholder values, and be customer-centric.

Vision statements need to be the reason that you get out of bed in the morning.

To commence a collective dialogue and provoke thought about an “ideal” organizational vision statement, there are several worthy considerations; two are exemplary.

First, in their book Competing for the Future, Hamel and Prahalad outline a series of conceptual questions for organizational leaders to consider when pondering the future state of their markets and organizations. These include contemplating tomorrow around what customers you’ll serve, the channels that you’ll reach them through, the competitive landscape, the basis of your competitive advantage, the source of your sales and margins, and the identification of the product, services, or technological capability that will make your organization unique.

Second, in Good to Great, Jim Collins referred to the “Hedgehog” concept, suggesting that great companies have a deep understanding of the concerns around “What are you deeply passionate about?” “What you can be the best in the world at?” and “What drives your economic engine?”

The intersection of these differentiating questions is the essence of defining your organization’s vision.

Don’t underestimate the time and effort required to develop a vision statement. It’s hard work, requires teamwork and consensus-building, and you must involve the right people. At the most senior levels in larger organizations, identifying a vision statement usually falls upon the shoulders of the CEO and the executive committee, who then take it to the board of directors for discussion, editing, and approval.

You are your CEO and the decision maker of your team. Get the opinions of your key constituents. Use a facilitator if necessary to keep the discussion on track. If helpful, get the reactions of a focus group of employees (or the like; preferably opinion molders). You may obtain some terrific input.

To Realize the Future, You Must Create It

Once you know your destination, you will need a map to get there. Therefore, while you have those people around the table discussing your organization’s vision, don’t be in a rush to adjourn. Making your dream a reality requires strategy.

This is where pragmatic business planning begins.

Reflecting upon your new or revitalized vision, you should consider whether your organization has the appropriate resources and competencies or whether it needs different skills, systems enhancements, better information, different market participation, or alternate financing models. Strategy considers your present organizational state as baseline and outlines the course to where you want to be. It addresses and identifies the “gap” between the two organizational states by answering, “What must we accomplish?” for the vision to be realized.

Like the vision statement, your strategy is forward looking. It should be internally focused and provide consensus-driven, goal-oriented guidance with a 12- to 30-month outlook. It should be clear and concise, describing how the organization will relate to and respond to its environment. It should be inspirational, compelling, and plausible. As the first level of detail for your business plan, it should also be easy to understand and to communicate.

Strategy is usually stated in the form of specific objectives that are measurable and time bound, contemplating the financial and operating results and return expectations required. These objectives are generally categorized as “critical” or “subordinate” in nature.

The level of detail in each objective will vary to your comfort level, but the direction, timeframe, and deliverables should be clear.

Begin your discussion about strategy by focusing on what it takes to make your vision a reality. Don’t aim for modest improvement; take a good “stretch,” but stay realistic and focused. The power of strategy, especially in changing times, is derived from its ability to direct employees’ actions, secure their commitment, and allocate people and financial resources accordingly to your competitive advantage. You’ll find that having a few meaningful and prioritized strategic objectives in each of the applicable categories that follow is highly motivational, and it’s far better than drowning in detail.

For markets and customers, you may want to consider ways to further penetrate and grow existing markets or target new ones through mergers, acquisitions, forward or reverse integration, in- or out-licensing, and strategic alliances. Also, based on the data collected, consider exit strategies and outsourcing for the low-performing aspects of your businesses.

Customers and funding sources are the lifeblood of any business. The relationships with your customers—internal or external—should be a partnership. You should continually be providing compelling reasons for your customers to do business with you—not only by satisfying their needs, but also by anticipating their needs. You need to be linked to your customer through your people, your performance, and your information.

For products and services, identify strategic objectives to meet the needs of present customers/clients, as well as to differentiate or add unique value to the organization’s future offerings (such as quality, speed, price, technology, innovation, and other product/service applications).

For business processes, consider more effective and efficient ways to address the organization’s cost of inventory and finished goods storage, work-in-progress, the need for quality and reduced service call rates or defects, the time and effort required for material or process changeovers, regulatory interactions, project management, resource allocations, or options for enhanced distribution.

For people and reward systems, you may need to obtain or enhance competencies for general management, sales and marketing, technology, customer service, research and development, distribution, or quality. Also, you need to assess and upgrade your current approach to attracting, selecting, motivating, and retaining talent. Consider options for protecting intellectual property. Look for some of the warning signs, such as turnover, productivity downturns, high turnover or absenteeism, and the like to flag potential trouble areas.

For structure and facilities, the driving force behind any change in organizational structure will likely depend on how you align your business with your customers and how much empowerment you provide to your employees. In this regard, an external perspective is encouraged.

For technologies, you must examine new ways of tracking initiatives and information and measuring performance.

Convert Aspiration to Invitation

With the strategic objectives identified, you must articulate and align the business and operating tactics to successfully execute the strategic objectives.

This is when you need to roll up your sleeves and get more people involved.

Tactics are the short-term action steps (generally within a 6- to-12-month period) that identify “how” your resources—financial, human, and technical—will be assigned, allocated, and deployed within the organization to implement and achieve the strategic objectives. They’re generally identified at a functional level. They cite the specific activities, changes, accountabilities, and deadlines required.

Tactics will also form the basis for future individual performance planning, as well as the identification of roles and accountabilities. Your management of this tactical creation process and its subsequent guidance is critical from several perspectives.

First, despite what may be your inclination otherwise, you most likely need to have the input of a broader audience—those closest to the work and most respected by your team. Research indicates that involving stakeholders directly in the problem-solving, knowledge sharing, and examining of the progress and challenges of the change effort always yields a better result. You must give your team an invitation to express their initiative, innovation, and ingenuity on the path to enduring, positive change. You must also tell them—upfront and with honest feedback—how their input will or won’t be used. You want your team to experience the energy and pride derived from creating its goals and aspirations.

Second, you want to establish a scenario where you can demon-strate some tangible, quick “wins.” This can help keep people engaged and enthusiastic about the change process and ensure all stakeholders that progress is being made. This also reinforces your desired sense of urgency.

Third, you need to be sure that the tactics are aligned and not at cross-purposes. This involves macro-level coordination. Focus on the desired results through a reconciliation, harmonization, and integration of selfish and competing interests. Slay the sacred cows, knock down the silos, fight the parochial interests, and end programs that aren’t giving you the required return. Include the voice of your key customers and suppliers, allowing them a voice through shared perspective, as they will make a terrific sounding board.

Last, remember that your resources are limited. Rome wasn’t built in a day. If you try to do “everything” as a priority, there’s a good chance that you’ll disappoint. For example, the pace at which organizational leadership addresses technology needs, reorganizes the sales territories, or integrates the R&D function will vary due to budget, complexity, and relationships with key constituents.

Endnotes

Bennis, W. G., & Townsend, R. (1995). Reinventing Leadership: Strategies to Empower the Organization. New York: William Morrow Company, p. 37.

Collins, J. C. (2001). Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., p. 118–119.

Ellsworth, R. R. (2002). Leading with Purpose. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. p. 97.

Hamel, G., & Prahalad, C. K. (1994). Competing for the Future: Breakthrough Strategies for Seizing Control of Your Industry and Creating the Markets for Tomorrow. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, p. 16–17.

Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading Change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School, p. 68–69, 72.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (1995). The Leadership Challenge: How to Get Extraordinary Things Done in Organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers, p. 97, 124.

White, R. March 29, 2007, private conversation.

Badaracco, J. L., & Ellsworth, R. R (1989). Leadership and the Quest for Integrity. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, p. 49.

Mercer Delta Consulting, LLC. (1998). “The congruence model: a roadmap for understanding organizational performance.” Mercer Delta Insights. New York: Mercer Delta Consulting, LLC, p. 6.

Price Waterhouse Change Integration Team. (1995). Better Change: Best Practices for Transforming Your Organization. New York: Irwin Professional Publishing. p. 7–10.

Tregoe, B., Zimmerman, J. W., Smith, R.A., & Tobia, P. (1989). Vision in Action: Putting a Winning Strategy to Work. New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 38.

Hiam, A. (2003). Motivational Management. New York: American Management Association, p. 89.

Price Waterhouse Change Integration Team. (1995). Better Change: Best Practices for Transforming Your Organization. New York: Irwin Professional Publishing. p. 15–21.