Why A Company Vision is So Important

Tuesday, 02. 9. 2010  –  Category: Enversa Companies

What do we want to be or be the best at?  Where are we going?  What will all of our hard work build up to?  What are we working towards?

Are we succeeding?

Everyone wants to be a success, but that can become difficult if you do not have a measurable way to view your progress.  Even top-level directors can begin to ask themselves, “Why am I doing this?”  Staying motivated is challenging for anyone, even the boss.  It is important for a team of individuals, whether a two-person, start-up company or a multi-location business of thousands, to have a common goal or vision; something that everyone is aware of and can remember while droning away.  Idealistically, your team members will not feel as if they are “droning”, but if they are not aware of the company’s big picture then that is exactly how they will feel at least some of the time.

Some companies do not have a company vision.  They need to figure out what it is.  How can you go anywhere when you have no idea where you are going?  The manner in which you get there may change from time to time by including different strategies, reorganizing your staff into different departments or implementing new and improved processes into your system.  But the main goal, your company vision, needs to be constant focus; everyone on your team or everyone who works in your company needs to know what it is.  If your vision is to be the leading job placement agency in the country, then you need to write that down, shout it out, and deliver it to all of your employees.  The ‘how’ may change, but the vision must be constant.  This way even your entry level recruiters will know that they are choosing candidates that will represent your agency as “the best agency in the country”.

A vision starts at the bottom, but is followed through at the top.  If your company doesn’t have a vision, it needs to create one and include all of its employees in the task.  It is hard to sell a vision to people who did not have a part in developing it.  Once the vision is in place, upper management, top executives and CEOs are the ones who need to keep it going.  If the team sees that the boss does not care about the vision, in time they will not care anymore either.  Your vision needs to be the focus at the beginning and end of every day, every meeting, and every project.

If you want to be the most recognized brand in your industry then you need to ask yourself and your team, “Are the decisions we are making today, this afternoon, on this project going to make us the most recognized brand in our industry?”  If this question is not asked, your team will get side tracked and your vision will be lost.  If only the top-level management keeps focus on this vision, but does not reiterate it to the rest of the company, then people will begin to ask, “Why are we doing this?”  Post banners in your board rooms or offices if you have to in order to remind your team of the reason they are staying late at night to work on an account.  They are doing it because they are working to be a part of “the most recognized brand in the industry!”  They are doing it to reach the company vision.

Katie Petre works for CornerWorld Corporation, parent company of Enversa Companies.

Tags: company vision, Katie Petre, leadership, marketing, strategy