Create a compelling vision for your organisation

If you’re a business owner or in a leadership position, it is incumbent on you to set and communicate a clear direction to encourage and inspire the best in your team.

​Creating and setting a compelling vision is the subject of entire books; I recommend The Vision Driven Leader by Michael Hyatt. It can be simultaneously ridiculously easy yet also immensely difficult to do well. Some organisations have a very clear mission which was borne out of a deep need to help improve a specific situation. Others are often somewhat accidental enterprises that grew out of one person’s desire to earn a living using the skills they already have. By luck or judgment, now they have a whole team of people to keep aligned and pushing in the same direction.

To define a clear vision for your organisation, you need a clear target to aim at. You need to build a culture around strong values to attract the kind of people you want to work with and who share the same purpose.

As I’ve mentioned previously, at Foxsoft, we use EOS as our operating system. A critical tool in the EOS toolbox is the VTO document. (The Vision/Traction Organiser). It’s a succinct two-pager that helps communicate the vision and how the organisation will get there.

The first page covers the longer term and the culture. Set out your audacious 10-year target and what your organisation must look like in 3 years on your way to that target. You also importantly define your culture through your Core Values (you can check out ours on our website) and Core Focus. Then, you define how you’ll get there with your marketing strategy.

The second page gets more granular and tactical with annual goals that move you towards your 3-year objective, and then you define your rocks. These are the most critical projects that need to be done in the next 90 days.

The VTO is a living document; it’s updated regularly as new opportunities are evaluated against it, and your nearer-term rocks and goals are achieved.

I’m a sucker for alliteration, and in our team meetings, I like to remind our team that we should always strive for clear, copious, consistent communication. As your organisation grows, inevitably, there will be trials and tribulations. To keep everyone aligned in the right direction, you need to communicate the vision continually and consistently. You must take the vision and pound it into the ground like a stake.

As Jim Huling said, “You don’t find your purpose. You build it, stone by stone.”