“She’s a leader with vision.” This is a high compliment indeed – vision is something that separates managers or bosses from leaders. But how can you get there? Sometimes leaders seem to think it’s enough to hire consultants to come up with an impressive-sounding vision statement, complete with all the latest corporate buzzwords and jargon.
This can sound impressive to fellow executives or a journalist looking for a sound bite. But to get your employees to join in your vision, and to work towards it every day, you need more than a statement. You need a clear vision itself, not just a vision statement example.
So how can you get there? There are four key questions to ask yourself:
Moving Vision from Statement to Action
What’s the Future of Your Business?
This is the big one.
What’s coming for your industry in the next few years – will you take advantage of automation or will it slow your business?
What does innovation look like for you?
Will you need to attract a new customer base because your current one is aging?
In a time of fast-paced change in nearly every industry, you can’t afford to leave out this question. Be assured your employees have thought about it too.
What actions will create your future?
Now that you’ve thought about the future, what does getting ready for it look like?
Look around your industry – what are your competitors doing?
Some of them may be great examples of innovation, and others may be cautionary tales. Both are useful to study. It’s tempting to get complacent if business is good at the moment. But your vision needs to look to a future full of action, not just staying with the status quo.
Is my company heading there?
Are you on track to adapt to the future, or are you at risk of falling behind?
And if you’re at risk, what’s causing it – outdated systems or technology, outdated thinking among your leadership team, a resistance to change among your employees?
Do you need a technical fix or a culture shift to get ready for the future, or do you need both?
Where have we been, and what did we learn?
History doesn’t always repeat itself, but it does run along similar tracks.
What need led to the creation of your company?
How have things shifted since, and how did your leadership adjust and adapt?
There are important lessons to be learned here in your company’s strengths and weaknesses at key points, whether it’s been around 100 years or 18 months.
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Contact us here. Our team of professionals has decades of experience working in technology executive roles and will coach and mentor leaders across multiple industries. We offer fractional CIO resources and our Surge CIO™ or Gap CIO™ solutions as well.