Where are you going and how will you get there?

Holiday time is over for most, unless winter sun or skiing is your thing. With the exception of a hot sunny Caribbean beach, in my mind there is nothing more escapist than a black run on the slopes, but not sure the little ladies are ready for that quite yet, having seen them on roller skates in the garden. Bambi on ice springs to mind!

We spend so much of our time thinking about and planning our travels. Where shall we go, what will it cost, what is the best route and method but do you do the same with your business?

A successful organisation knows where it is going and how, driving the organisation and its people. If you do not have a vision how will you achieve growth?

Your vision should be inspiring and articulate your dreams. What are you trying to build and what do you want for the organisation?

Alongside this should be your mission statement. What is the Company achieving in the here and now, what makes you great, what makes you different from others and stand out from your competitors?

Your vision and mission should be short, punchy and inspirational. Use them externally to market and internally to lead and motivate your people. They should drive your objectives as an organisation which should flow through department and individual objectives.

I have worked with many organisations thinking about objectives. Rolling out the standard “SMART”. If they are SMART they are fine, right? Wrong! The key is about where they come from. Carrying out an appraisal or review with individuals pulling SMART objectives out of the air is, as the old saying goes, about as useful to your growth and success as a chocolate teapot. They need to flow from the top but it’s amazing how many get this wrong. “Attend an excel course by the 30th November” may be SMART but will it make the next million?

Equally important are your organisations core values. Do you have any as an organisation? Do your customers or clients know what these are? Do your employees know the behaviour expected of them and the beliefs you uphold?

Your values should be your fundamental beliefs and what the organisation is all about, determining how your company operates including goals, ethics, behaviour and guiding principles and philosophies.

Values can be in many formats, pure words, definitions or themes but they should be inspirational, short and engage both internally and externally.

“We make the impossible possible”. “We are passionate about our people”. “We lead by example” “We act with integrity”

They key is they are your values and should reflect your organisation.

This is a subject I am passionate about and I have been carrying out coaching sessions with management teams to come up with new Vision Statements, Mission statements and Company values. It’s amazing the creativity and thinking I have seen in these sessions using coaching questions and watching the ideas fly around the room and bounce from person to person. I have seen outgoing people “shout” out ideas, which are then absorbed and assimilated by quieter members changing key words to create amazing results. From start ups getting it right from the word go, to bigger organisations wanting to rebrand or refocus this process is always exciting and rewarding.

Your mission, vision and values should be published to all, make some noise, sing about them and let your people and the world know. Use them to lead, drive and engage everyone towards your goals and never again have objectives for the sake of writing an objective.

It is equally important to know if you are living by your values. You may create the most inspirational set of words, but if your people consider that your communication is awful, you never do any training, you act dishonestly and everyone hates each other, you may have problems!

I always try to encourage follow up sessions to ask the people in the organisation if the values are lived by before publication. This process itself engages people as they are listened to. It is about making change and creating actions to change and doing this quickly and concisely.

In summary, consider your organisation’s future like travelling on holiday.

Dream and set out exactly where you want to go. Take the time to plan carefully how to get there, deciding which is the smoothest most cost effective way? Then get all on board with your decision. Before you set out, understand what you value most, what you want to experience and achieve, and know what you expect from the people with you, to ensure everyone travelling feels and acts the same. Then enjoy a highly successful, rewarding journey.