A business needs direction. This shouldn’t surprise you; if anything, it should be common sense, but it is common sense that not every executive follows. Simply existing, or even just trying to grow, is not enough for a company to truly flourish. Without a true direction, without a vision for what the company should be in the future, a business is more likely to flounder than succeed.
If you sit back and close your eyes and picture your future, the future of your business, and the future of your sales team, what do you see? Is it clear or fuzzy? Is it hard to put together or did it just pop into your head? Many people do not see a vision for themselves. They are busy looking at where they are or where people are telling them they should be, and then they strive for that. But what about what you want? What do you see?
We need to have meaningful targets in life in order to be motivated to succeed. It would be stupid to play darts without a dartboard, but just having a dartboard isn’t enough. We need to know what game we are playing, what the rules are, how to throw the darts, how to practice, and how to win. We need to know why winning is important, what it feels like, and what we will derive from it.
Building a coherent vision for your business is the same way. You can’t simply say that you want it to grow – you need to establish what you want it to grow into and how you want it to happen. When it comes to long-term planning, “what” is important, but so are the “how” and “when” and “why.” Because if I know why I am striving for something, what exactly it is, and how to get there, I am not going to miss my target very often.
So do the exercise again with this in mind. Sit back, relax, and “see” your vision for you and your company. Make it clear in your mind—so clear that you can tell your people what it is and why you want that vision to come true. Give them meaning for their work, then give them the tools and support to do their work. Only then will your business have the direction – the vision – that it needs, and only then will you be able to reach your full potential.
