A Business Vision: Your Most Important Asset
You Have Opportunities, Too!
How have your markets changed? Are other organizations like yours doing business in new ways? In nearly every field there are educational institutions training young people for careers. Are they teaching new tools and new rules?
There is more to come on the topic of Opportunities!
Everybody has Some Weaknesses
"Leadership is what gives an organization its vision and its ability to translate that vision into reality."
Bennis and Nanus, Leaders; Strategies for taking charge, HarperCollins, 2003., p. 19
We can't avoid weaknesses. In more than 50 years, I have never seen an organization of human beings that had no weakness. I include small and large businesses, social service agencies, churches, Boy Scout troops, fishing lodges, colleges, health salons and, certainly, government departments. So long as you operate in an attractive field, someone will compete with you and that organization will have different or better strengths. Therefore, both you and they have competitive weaknesses. Even if you improve your performance in areas of perceived weakness, you will then have other weaknesses. That's the way free enterprise works. The only system I've seen that permits static and continued strengths and weaknesses is a government-controlled economy where police power is used to prevent competition - until the inevitable revolution happens. When we get right down to it, taking advantage of our strengths and minimizing the disadvantage of our weaknesses is what business - for profit or non-profit - is all about. If you can't play that game you'd best get out of it.
Weakness Defined. For our purposes, just as we defined a strength as a competitive advantage, we'll define a weakness as a competitive disadvantage. You must overcome (not just tolerate) them somehow. Some examples:
You have a set of strong service technicians who can solve almost any customer problem, but their supervisor is the best of them and you have no other support for marketing and promoting your service function. Your techs are a strength; your lack of marketing capability is a weakness.
An independent social service agency has a reputation that commands strong support from traditional, oriented funding sources - primarily government agencies, but does not have strong approaches to other possible sources. In tough times, when government revenues follow business down a recession path, those funds become scarce.
Here's another: A few years ago I was given a business plan draft by a person who wished to start a new service business. The plan was very expansive when it talked about the outstanding people that would be hired to perform its services. It included a complete description of the facility and equipment it would employ. But there was not one word about the role of the entrepreneur, or of any other manager. To me, that omission signaled a probable weakness in leadership.
If you have an old and worn place to do business, or if you are very cramped for space, that is a serious weakness that you must somehow overcome in the future.
What have you?
What Are Our Competitive Strengths?
- Some of your people may have highly effective expertise in important areas.
- An outstanding, modern and efficient manufacturing facility is a strength for a producer of goods.
- Patents on valuable products or processes or a well known trademark are certainly strengths.
- A strategic location that gives you an advantage over others located elsewhere is a strength.
- Being first to market with an exciting new product is another example.
Having good, customer-oriented people on your team is not really a strength unless they are truly dedicated and committed. If you are a social service agency and there are three other such agencies in your city and they are all staffed with good, customer-oriented people with professional certifications, you probably should not count your staff as a competitive strength. Will yours work longer hours, for less money, give better treatment and praise your agency to their friends? Would your competitors snap them up if they became available? If your people are better, write down "High Quality Staff" as a competitive strength.
There was a time when an auto dealer could point with pride to being "The Only Hurricane Dealer in Faroff, Nebraska" as a competitive advantage. Not so true these days.
The competitive advantage of experience is easy to misjudge. If you think your experience will be more valuable in the future than it was in the past, write it down. But if your firm or agency or service is still selling the same medicines it has sold in the corner drugstore for 40 years, that experience may not be an advantage in the future - for several reasons!
Location is another attribute that is often misjudged. For many years John Jones may have reaped the benefits of being "right downtown" in Faroff, where people could look at the new cars through his big front windows as they walked to the drugstore for coffee. Now, if Jim Johnston is selling cars from his three acres right on the new Interstate intersection it is Jim who has the strength of location, not John.
If you'd like some help with this, send me a list of attributes you think might be competitive strengths for your organization. Send it as a Comment through this blog, or via email to rmp@parkersolutions.com. I'll let you know what I think, or ask some questions.
Before Visioning, SWOT Analysis is necessary.
Let's analyze your SWOTS. There are some well-proven techniques you can use for building a vision of what you want your organization to become. But first, let’s take stock. Before we go into the future, let's make sure you know what you are now, in the world that exists today.
The technique of analyzing SWOTS is a well-tested method of getting ready for visioning. SWOT means Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. In this process remember that you are thinking about your organization and its environment as it is, not as it might be.
Before the future is the past. Before we think about where we're going, let's think about where we are as an organization. Before we consider how we'll get where we're going, we must understand what got us where we are. Analyzing our Strengths , Weakness, Opportunities and Threats is a proven method for evaluating the good and the bad, the possibilities and the dangers we face in the future. In either a for profit or non-profit enterprise, we consider these factors in a competitive atmosphere. What strengths can help us, which weaknesses will hurt us, which opportunities should we pursue, and which threats must we combat?
I want to convince you that SWOT analysis is essential to your visioning process, and to your continuing success. In one of the best business books I know, I found this statement in a chapter on the qualities of great leaders: "Recognizing strengths and compensating for weaknesses represent the first step in achieving positive self-regard.*" I think we can't build a vision that is attractive, worthwhile and achievable without understanding where we start from.
In the next posts we’ll talk about SWOTs, one at a time.
*Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, "Leaders; Strategies for Taking Charge," HarperCollins, New York, 2003.
How to Make - or Discover - or Build - or Write Your Vision of the Future?
Bennis and Nanus, Leaders: Strategies for taking charge, HarperCollins, 2003.
You say "But we don't have a vision!" "We don't know what the future holds for us!" We're working as hard as we can just to stay afloat today!" "How can we predict what we'll be doing years from now?" Etc., etc.
First, get this into your head: You're not predicting the future, you are deciding how you will make the future! There are some people who are gifted with vision. Most people are not. Either way or in between, you can develop a pretty clear idea of where you want your organization to go. We’re not talking about clairvoyance (seeing what might happen) here, we’re talking about making it happen.
I don't think your vision should be a public document. Worrying about short-term employee, customer and competitor reaction will prevent you from being completely honest and descriptive while writing it.
Here are some steps that can lead you to a new vision:
- First, understand that this will take some time. I've never seen any leader do a good job of vision creation in less than one month. More often it takes three months or more. There is just too much to think about, too much to find out about, too many starts and stops, and too many alternatives to consider to do it in a short time. Make sure that you make steady progress - don't set this process aside for other priorities. Get momentum going.
- Keep in mind that we are making a vision that will be the strongest possible motivator for your enterprise. It is worth some time and effort! Commit to it.
- Make sure you know what you are; why does this enterprise exist? Maybe you think it exists to make money, or to help people. But, those values can only succeed if you serve human needs. Write down the needs you expect to serve. Be specific.
- Imagine the ideal customers, as though you could use a huge and comprehensive database to find such people. Describe them.
- Consider your current competitive strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Naturally, people are a big part of this analysis. What are your own SWOTs, and what are the SWOTs of your people? Write them down.
- Think about ways to maximize your strengths, minimize your weaknesses, take advantage of your opportunities and overcome or avoid your threats in the world that will be in the future. Write down all those actions.
- Now, consider what people might want from you in the future. What will they need that you might provide? Think ahead three years - next year, the year after, and the year after that. Get all the help you can, both from inside and outside your organization. Don't worry that you may be wrong! Expect to change your mind!
- Now Visualize. Put it all together, your values (reasons for being,) the needs you will serve, the types of people who will need you, the improved strengths and the tolerated weaknesses and the greatest opportunities and the countered threats. How will you be doing business then? What will it be like for you and your people? How will your customers feel about you? What will be your financial condition? That is your Vision!
- Now you must share it with everyone affected by it, everyone who will contribute to it, everyone who has a stake in it inside your organization. In the process of sharing, expect some changes to happen.
- Review your vision often. I suggest every three months for the first three years. Question everything. Is your vision truly "attractive, worthwhile and achievable?" This is where "tough mindedness" is absolutely necessary. If you do it right something will change every time you review it.
After sharing and feedback and the first review, put your Vision in a form that can be used throughout your enterpise as an internal guide for decision and action. This statement should be the constitution and blueprint for your enterprise.
I surely would like to hear what you think about this process.
Bob
The Last (4th) Key Word for a Powerful Vision: "Widely Shared."
We might assume that, at the very least, it should be shared with those people who would make the vision come true. Does that mean department heads, managers, planners, or does that mean with everyone in the organization? I suggest that the closer we can get to sharing our vision with everyone, the more powerful that vision will be. After all, don't we want all of our people to be motivated?
But what if our vision of the future does not include all of the operations, all of the services or products, or all of the skills and technologies we now utilize? Won't sharing that vision act as a disincentive for those who fear that they won't share in the future? Won't they become a drag on our progress, thereby hindering our ability to make our vision come true? Might we not need them now for cash flow generation, or to give us time to condition our present customers to the changes that will be to their ultimate benefit? Won't sharing the vision with everyone, now, cause more trouble than it's worth?
Also, do we have confidence that we can really achieve our vision? Shouldn't we hedge a bit just in case things don't turn out as we wish? Shouldn't we share our vision only with those we expect to be loyal to us, or with those we think are necessary to make critical decisions? I've seen many organizations get cold feet over this issue. I've personally lived through two serious "revolutions" in manufacturing corporations.
One of them kept strategic moves secret; only those managers were told who had "a need to know." None of the hourly or lower level salaried people were informed until they were presented with their notices of dismissal. The company expected that severance pay would suffice to smooth over the shock. Even the employee's union was not informed until strategic moves were imminent. That company asked for, and got, a lot of trouble. In fact, the troubles were so severe that the company - one of America's oldest and largest manufacturers, became unable to achieve their vision. Within three years they were gone.
The other company made full disclosure of the "new" corporation's goals. They explained the issues faced by changing markets and obsolete facilities. They showed the commitment of the company's investors in making the "new" company work. They made every effort to utilize existing employees, at all levels, in the new organization's future, They brought the unions of the several plants most affected into the picture, and used them to promote the new vision. Surely there were disappointed people, particularly in the older, least efficient (in terms of ROI) plants. But the plan went very well. There were no eruptions or disruptions. People who could move were moved. That company still lives. I know how this worked, for I was manager of the closing of one of the old facilities.
So I say - tell them all. Be careful about how you put it to people. Make certain that you believe in the vision, and that it is attractive, worthwhile and achievable. But get them to buy into it. All, everybody.
Next: OK, so how do we go about making a Vision?
The Third Vison Keyword: Achievable
This may be the most obvious of the four keywords that make a vision powerful. Still, it may be the most difficult to understand and satisfy in stating your vision of the future. It's really what makes a vision hard to describe. It's what makes a vision not just a dream. It requires planning, not just dreaming.
There are other words that Dr. Nanus could have used, such as realistic or credible. He does use them in similar context later in the book. But achievable really does say it all.
To make us work hard, to "give it our all," a vision of the future must be reasonable. We must believe that it will happen, and that we can make it happen. And that it won't, if we don't.
Everyone dreams, but few have achievable visions. Let's say you have a dream, one night, of sitting in your office in a very successful organization. You're reading the weekly progress reports from all of your divisions or departments. All are reporting new customers, new clients for your services, saying that they will need more space next year, and more good people and even more locations They are begging for more supplies, whether it be salable inventory or printed literature or vans to distribute it with. There is on your desk a pile of employment applications from outstanding people. It seems like everyone wants to work with you. Your business or your nonprofit agency keeps bringing in cash, but it seems like there is never enough to do all you want to. Are you in heaven? No! You're in an organization that is living in its vision of the future!
How did this happen? That's the crux of the matter.
I suggest that it's often better to start at the end than at the beginning. Getting from here to there seems impossible. There are so many problems to solve, obstacles to overcome, money that must be found, that the task of achievement seems overwhelming.
Get your people together and pose your vision to them. Then ask: what got us there? What did we do that made us grow? How did we make so many people want to use our services or buy our products? How did we choose those growing locations, or find and develop those managers, or attract all that money from investors? Go back step by step to the present and you will be confronted by the choices you must make - every one of them achievable - to get to that wonderful place of your vision.
My next post will talk about the last of the four "magic words:" your vision must be widely shared.
The Second Key Word; Worthwhile
Burt Nanus, in his great book "Visionary Leadership," says that to be "the most powerful force driving an organization toward excellence and long-range success," a vision of the organization's future must be attractive, worthwhile, achievable, and widely shared. In the previous post we talked about making our vision attractive. Now, let's explore why it's so important that your organization's vision be Worthwhile.
In the same sense that "beautiful" is often not enough to guarantee success, your vision of the future must not only be attractive but it must be worthwhile. When an organization thinks about its future, and decides what it should become, that vision always depicts a future that is greatly different from what it is. To become what it wants to be the organization will work very hard. It will dedicate its resources of money, time, skills, and energy to achieve the end result - its vision. The vision will be a powerful motivator only if all those involved in its achievement believe wholeheartedly that the vision will be worth the effort! They will commit themselves to it.
Other stakeholders, those not inside the organization but affected by it, such as customers, clients, patrons, volunteer workers, or investors, will recognize the dedication of insiders and wish to connect with and share it. The organization's vision will be worth their while, also.
The First Key Word About Your Vision: Attractive
Burt Nanus, in his great book "Visionary Leadership," says that to be the most powerful force driving an organization toward excellence and long-range success, a vision of the organization's future must be: attractive, worthwhile, achievable, and widely shared. Let's explore why these words are so important.
About "attractive:' Now you may say that it is obvious that an organization's vision of the future must be attractive. But there may be more to this than you see at first. Certainly the vision must be attractive for it to motivate your people. It must portray your organization in a future that is pleasant to contemplate. You and everyone in the organization must desire it to come true, because being a part of it will make everyone feel proud to be a part of making it happen. It must be attractive at every level. If any person feels that the future will not be good for them, your vision certainly will not motivate them. One of the powerful aspects of an honest and attractive vision is that it will help you and your managers consider the possible and probable contributions at even the lowest level of your organization. Have you some people who will not be challenged and inspired by your vision? Should not your vision help you identify them?
Also, your vision must be attractive to your market. Indeed, it should define and identify the market you shall serve in the future. Your vision should make it plain that you understand the needs you can serve, and how you shall serve those needs (and those people.)
Finally, if your vision shows why it will be successful, thus pleasing your people, and why it will attract customers or clients or patrons, it will also attract people who will want to share it with you as investors. That is what a good organization does.
This indicates why you must think through your vision of the future before you write a business plan!
Next: what's so important about "worthwhile?"
Is "excellence and long-range success" your goal?
Doesn't "driving your organization toward excellence and long-range success" seem like the very essence of management? I suspect that it does. That's why an "attractive, worthwhile and achievable vision of the future, widely shared," seems like something you should have. Let's work on it, together.
Call me, at 515-733-4013, or email to rmp@parkersolutions.com, and let's talk about it.
Bob
