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4 Reasons Why You Must Create a Company Vision

May 5, 2016 Eric Stewart

Vision_Future.jpg

With what many people are considering the death of traditional broadcast promotions and the rise of social sharing – your vision narrative is the absolute best way to self promote and align your company at the same time.

There’s a big caveat here: your vision statement is not the same thing, and it will not have the same effect as your narrative. A true narrative will read like an aspirational storyboard, it is all about aligning your brand behind a pure vision of the future.

There is a common misconception that a comprehensive vision is something only the mega companies like Coca-Cola, Red Bull, and Tesla spend time to develop. We seem to believe that just because they have the staff and resources to commit to building a powerful vision.

The truth is, no matter your size, you really need to be devoting some of your time to the creation of a vision narrative and facilitate it to your employees and your customers.

And here are four reasons why you MUST create a company vision:

It puts you on the right path to success. Yes, you can be successful without a vision, there’s no doubting that, but overall your potential to achieve is far greater if you take the time to build out a vision for the next five years or more. Knowing where and how to get there will put you on much firmer ground as you attempt to make your vision a reality. It’s like planning out a long road-trip in advance. You can likely arrive at your destination without directions, but you’re probably going to make a few unnecessary wrong turns along the way – a vision narrative helps you avoid those missteps.

It puts your people on the right path too. Vision narratives are important for alignment purposes. Having a written and documented vision for your employees to know, own, and drive it will foster great collaboration among your team. On top of that, it is helpful for your team to know where the organization is going and how they can help move the vision closer to a reality.

It gives you ambitious goals to aim for. Having a set vision narrative is a major motivational factor – for you and your team. Without these goals and vision milestones in place it will be much more difficult for you to cross off wins over the years. Plus, it gives you and your team something to celebrate when you do reach one of those milestones. It’s important to celebrate the wins.

It’s a chance to branch out. A vision narrative gives you the opportunity to do something remarkably creative, apart from your normal strategic aims. It is your chance to do some truly visionary thinking, where accomplishing the unknown is a reality. Your vision narrative is a great opportunity, so don't feel bad about self-promotion. Lay out plans to solve big real-world problems along the way, don’t just make it about you. It’s about doing good and having global impact. Think BIG.

You don’t have to be a major enterprise to formulate a vision narrative for your company. There has never been a better time in our digital information age than now to put on (digital) paper your aspirational goals and visions for the future. 

TOPICS: High Performance, Business Growth, Employee Engagement