How many times have you written a vision for your business and then a year or two down the line realised that nothing has changed? It's not only frustrating, but it can be soul-crushing when your dreams do not come to fruition.
Writing the words of your vision on a page is essential, but they quickly become meaningless if they don’t convert into action.
How you go about developing your vision- and getting started on your journey - is, therefore, crucial if you want your vision to become reality. Think of your business as a car – you wouldn’t sit in your vehicle without knowing where you are going, would you?
To help get you on the right track, here are seven, simple to implement, change management techniques that will make the difference between success and “better luck next time.”
#1 Work with your leadership team to develop a BOLD vision that excites
You want your vision to be bold so that it excites and energises people.
Tap into your leadership team's collective energy, skills, and expertise to generate more ideas and work together to strengthen relationships so that all members of the team will be in alignment when it comes to implementing your vision.
When leadership teams are aligned, their messages will be clear and consistent. Employees will understand what they are contributing to and why.
Download now: How to set your vision and change priorities [FREE eBook]
#2 Get clear on what the business is going to look like once your vision has been achieved
A one-line vision isn’t enough. People need to visualise what the future looks like – and what it means for them.
To achieve your vision, it is likely that they’ll be several big actions you’ll need to take (I call these change priorities). These could be around developing your people, improving the way your business runs, developing new products/services, developing new revenue streams, innovation, technology, partnerships, etc.
Agree as a team what your change priorities are. Get specific. I recommend between 3-5. Any less than 3 and they will be too broad to be meaningful. Any more than 5 and it will be trickier for people to remember, and you’ll run the risk of spreading yourself too thin.
For each priority - list, as a series of bullet points, how your business will work once the change priority has been delivered. Identify the key performance metrics for each change priority and set a target.
Document your strategy.
Free download: Strategy-on-a-page template
#3 Give yourself time to develop your vision, making sure you believe in it and are passionate about achieving it
Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
Setting a bold vision should leave you feeling more than a little uncomfortable about how you will achieve it. Some people will be excited by it, and others daunted. Some will say they love the vision but question it behind your back.
Whether you use a couple of full days or several shorter meetings to work on your vision and change priorities, it's important to give yourselves time. Time to work through all the pros and cons and talk about it so much that you know whether it excites you for the long-term and is challenging enough to be stretching.
Time will also allow everyone in your leadership team to go through their own acceptance curve without feeling rushed and pressured into something before they are ready. Making sure there is a shared sense of ownership and commitment.
#4 Involve everyone in your business before you finalise your vision and change priorities
Based on the FIRO-B model developed by Will Schutz, when you involve people you build commitment, ownership, loyalty and engagement.
Once you have a draft of your vision and change priorities, share the document. Explain the things that are fixed and those that are non-negotiable; ask for feedback on areas that are still open for debate and the language you have used:
- Does everyone understand what is meant by the vision, each change priority and each of the bullet points?
- Do any words need to be amended to establish a shared understanding?
- Make sure everyone understands the performance metrics and how they are measured.
Before the final version is created, update the words to reflect the feedback you have received so that people can see that what they said has made a difference. By including their input, they will feel involved.
#5 As a team agree your year 1 goal and 3 to 7 key actions
Typically, a vision is set for 3 to 5 years into the future. If you have been bold, then your vision should feel daunting, and you won’t have fully worked-up answers to all the questions about how you are going to achieve it.
Faced with the immediacy of running today's business and the discomfort of moving towards an unknown future, it's easy to get distracted and lose sight of the end goal (your vision).
Break your performance target down by year and set out a roadmap for the 3 to 5 year timeframe of your vision – being realistic about what is achievable at any one time – and then focus on year 1.
Agree on your year 1 goal and the 3 to 7 key actions that you will implement to achieve your targets.
By breaking your vision down into something less daunting and altogether more achievable, you have given your team the focus they need to make early progress. Early progress equals action!
#6 Officially launch the programme
Once you have signed off your vision and change priorities, and are clear on your year 1 goal, the next step is to officially launch the change programme.
The structure and culture of your business will determine the look and feel of the launch. Whichever format you choose, the objective of the launch event is to be intentional about starting to make change happen.
What’s important is to make sure that the people in your business know there is a change programme, WHY it has been started and WHAT the priorities are. You want to leave people feeling aligned and energised to act on delivering the vision and change priorities.
#7 Put in place a rhythm for maintaining momentum
You have launched the programme; it went really well and everyone is excited and motivated to make change happen. Now you need to establish a rhythm of regularly bringing people back together again to take stock of progress, celebrate successes, and plan forward.
With a rhythm in place, it enables you to build and maintain momentum beyond the initial excitement that comes with starting something new, which will wear off. It gives you a structure to keep you, your team and ultimately the change programme moving forward.
Put in place a series of quarterly events.
I recommend this approach because it will align the change programme to your business-as-usual cycle and will make tracking progress easier.
In my experience, the more integrated your change programme is with your operational teams and the business-as-usual the better. Setting up separate, standalone change teams working to different cycles will create challenges when it comes to embedding changes into your business.
In summary, the key first step to achieving your vision is to involve your people from the outset, and then keep them involved throughout the life of your change programme.
Get people excited, align your leadership team, paint a picture of the future, and give everyone a clear roadmap that they can work towards achieving together. Once you’ve launched your change programme, maintain momentum by holding quarterly events with your teams to take stock of progress, celebrate success, and plan forward.
Download now: How to set your vision and change priorities [FREE eBook]
