Imagine that you just spent a full day at an off-site retreat with your work colleagues for a bit of team bonding and a chance to craft a vision statement. Your buddy, Tim, had one opinion. The person from accounting wanted something completely different. But finally, all agreed to the wording—mainly because everyone was ready to leave. The statement was drafted. Now what?
Just because company leaders drafted a vision statement doesn’t mean your organization is actually visionary. Visionary organizations have an entire ‘roadmap to radical change’. Every successful visionary organization realizes that radical change cannot occur unless an enterprise has a roadmap to successfully reach its destination. To become a visionary organization, there are six elements to create a powerful blueprint for change.
Yesterday, Promotional Consultant Today shared three of these elements from business author and speaker Eliakim Thorpe. Today, we are sharing three more.
4. Communicated: A well-developed vision may begin in the mind of the organizational leader as an abstract idea but turns into a powerfully communicated vision throughout the company so that everyone understands and can articulate where they are going. To effectively communicate a vision requires an established communication infrastructure that has verbal, written, visual, behavioral and system components that convey and manage the barriers and progress of the vision. Leadership must regularly communicate and reinforce the vision so that momentum is sustained while undergoing this radical organizational change. Visionary organizations don’t simply see the vision; they become the vision.
5. Consented: Every vision articulated must have the ability to mobilize the workforce to accept the idea of the leader. Consensus is taking the idea of the one and making it the idea of the many. It is the ability to use persuasive language to create a vision that is inclusive, open, honest and transparent, and mobilizes the workforce to accept the needed organizational changes to remain relevant in today’s business landscape. Consensus creates a shared responsibility, beginning with the leader, but embraced by all levels of the company. The most powerful visions happen when an entire group or organization is mobilized, unified, linked and of one mind to ensure that the enterprise reaches its goals.
6. Committed: For a vision to become a reality, people throughout the organization must be willing to voluntarily invest their time, talent and resources. Leadership must not only cast the vision, carry the vision and support the vision, but the staff must catch the vision to propel the organization forward in a very profound way.
Does the current state of your organization align with its future goals?
Throughout history, the catalyst for change has always begun with individuals who foresaw the benefit of developing a visionary organization. The development of a visionary organization resulted in inspired employees, new product innovation, higher revenue margins, increased sales, profit increase, greater market competitiveness, stronger organizational culture and strong organizational outcomes.
You can be the start of your team vision.
Eliakim Thorpe is a sought-after speaker, consultant, thought-leader and entrepreneur, author, and a leading authority on organizational transformation. He is the creator of the T.H.R.I.V.I.N.G. Organization: A New Philosophy to Transform Organizations, which is both a philosophy and a systematic process to help businesses create frameworks to become transformational—internally and externally. As an IT professional, Thorpe has worked with and consulted for Fortune 10 to Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, Whirlpool and GM.
