Business strategy needs a vision, and the first ingredient is imagination.
A mental picture of a desired future situation motivates people much more than does a carefully worded vision statement. If people can “see” what they are trying to achieve, it brings the business vision alive for them.
Imagination (sometimes called “the mind’s eye”) is “the ability to form images and ideas in the mind, especially of things never seen or experienced directly”.
To come up with an aspirational vision for the business, you need to project yourself into the future, take a quantum leap, and see beyond the incremental options of extending, adding-onto or tweaking what already exists.
Some people are more imaginative than others, probably because they permit themselves to be. Some people see themselves as “unimaginative”. Sometimes imagination is denigrated using phrases such as “that’s fanciful”, “completely unrealistic”, “you’re dreaming”, and “she has an overactive imagination”. Sharing an imagined new future requires courage, and the knowledge that there is likely to be some resistance.
There are three skills needed here:
1. Being able to visualize an alternative future, and
2. Being able to describe to others what you see, and
3. Being able to listen to what others are imagining, whilst suspending judgment.
Even thinking about a future very different from the present can feel extremely audacious. Have you ever thought fleetingly about some possibility and then thought better of it, not even permitting yourself to develop the idea, let alone voice it to others?
To create a mental picture of your new future, speak to yourself as if you are already achieving it, e.g. “We are…” “We have…” rather than “We will…” or “We want to…”
Marketing pioneer Theodore Levitt said “Nothing drives progress like the imagination. The idea precedes the deed”. Let your imagination go to work for you.
Without imagination, you’re stuck in precedent.
Showing posts with label vision. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vision. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Vision - Strategy's Secret Sauce
Most strategic planning starts with a discussion of "What's your vision?" and that's the first place where people get stuck. Everyone gets frustrated with trying to "wordsmith" the perfect vision statement. I prefer to think of a business strategy having a "built-in" vision. I find that a vision tends to crystallize during the strategy discussion.
Why is vision important?
Strategy needs vision to give it life. Without vision you have no direction, and are stuck doing what you've always done. Without direction, you have no clarity about where you want to go and what you want your business to be.
Vision gives you focus. Without an understanding of your vision, your staff have no clarity about the organization's purpose or what they should be doing to achieve it. That's demotivating. Without a unified sense of purpose, performance suffers. There is a wastage and leakage of energy, rather than a sense of "pulling together".
Ambitious and energetic people like working in an organization that has a clear sense of direction. If the business seems to be drifting, they are likely to look elsewhere for a position where their contribution can have more impact.
I'm sure you've heard all this before.
It's very easy to say "We need a vision". So why is it so hard to have one? To have a vision, you need to be able to imagine something beyond the current reality; something you haven't seen before. It should be aspirational, rather than a statement of the current situation. A vision is not just an incremental step. Your vision might not currently be possible, but could be achievable over a given time-frame. It's important to have a unique pathway in mind.
To have a vision, you have to allow yourself to imagine something that doesn't presently exist. Author Jonathan Swift said "Vision is the art of seeing the invisible".
It's so nebulous, but so important.
Why is vision important?
Strategy needs vision to give it life. Without vision you have no direction, and are stuck doing what you've always done. Without direction, you have no clarity about where you want to go and what you want your business to be.
Vision gives you focus. Without an understanding of your vision, your staff have no clarity about the organization's purpose or what they should be doing to achieve it. That's demotivating. Without a unified sense of purpose, performance suffers. There is a wastage and leakage of energy, rather than a sense of "pulling together".
Ambitious and energetic people like working in an organization that has a clear sense of direction. If the business seems to be drifting, they are likely to look elsewhere for a position where their contribution can have more impact.
I'm sure you've heard all this before.
It's very easy to say "We need a vision". So why is it so hard to have one? To have a vision, you need to be able to imagine something beyond the current reality; something you haven't seen before. It should be aspirational, rather than a statement of the current situation. A vision is not just an incremental step. Your vision might not currently be possible, but could be achievable over a given time-frame. It's important to have a unique pathway in mind.
To have a vision, you have to allow yourself to imagine something that doesn't presently exist. Author Jonathan Swift said "Vision is the art of seeing the invisible".
It's so nebulous, but so important.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Use what you've got, to get what you want!
Business strategy is your plan for achieving competitive advantage. It's your choice of how and where to compete.
Your business strategy is different from your marketing strategy (your plan for communicating what you offer to customers or clients).
Your business strategy sets the agenda for all your business activities. It establishes criteria for all your business decisions. And if you're going to innovate, it should be in pursuance of the business strategy.
Your business strategy should be unique. How do you get innovative with your business strategy?
Competitive advantage is achieved through:
your strategic assets and
how you choose to use them.
The equation is: What you have + how you use it = your competitive advantage.
In other words, "Use what you've got, to get what you want".
To get innovative with your strategy, get creative with both parts of the equation. Think more deeply about your strategic assets (these are usually intangible things) and reconceptualise the way you view them. Then consider how these can best be applied in ways that your customers or clients value.
Sounds easy? The hard part is to see beyond the current reality and to forge a unique path, rather than copying what others have done. What's required is vision, the art of seeing the invisible.
More on this next time.
Your business strategy is different from your marketing strategy (your plan for communicating what you offer to customers or clients).
Your business strategy sets the agenda for all your business activities. It establishes criteria for all your business decisions. And if you're going to innovate, it should be in pursuance of the business strategy.
Your business strategy should be unique. How do you get innovative with your business strategy?
Competitive advantage is achieved through:
your strategic assets and
how you choose to use them.
The equation is: What you have + how you use it = your competitive advantage.
In other words, "Use what you've got, to get what you want".
To get innovative with your strategy, get creative with both parts of the equation. Think more deeply about your strategic assets (these are usually intangible things) and reconceptualise the way you view them. Then consider how these can best be applied in ways that your customers or clients value.
Sounds easy? The hard part is to see beyond the current reality and to forge a unique path, rather than copying what others have done. What's required is vision, the art of seeing the invisible.
More on this next time.
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