Sometime ago I read an article about Pete Maravich, former LSU and NBA basketball player and what made him so successful. When asked that question by the sportswriter, he answered “before I take the shot, I can’t see myself missing.” While it would be easy to interpret that comment as arrogant, the article stated that what he meant was he pictured the shot “in his
mind’s eye” as going in before he took the shot. Pete Maravich had a vision of the shot going in.
The same can be true business leaders. Do you have a successful vision for your company? What do you picture in your mind’s eye for your business this year? As you approach 2016, here are 3 critical items needed for a successful company vision:
1. Ask yourself the hard questions. A successful vision starts with answering the following questions (from your client’s point of view, not yours):
– What 2-3 problems does our client solve with our product or service?
– Who are we and why are we in business?
– What do we do, who do we do it for and why?
2. Focus. Focus on what’s important to you and your clients and avoid distractions that will hurt your efforts. Let’s face it, we live in fast-paced world where things are constantly changing, we’re juggling multiple priorities between employees, customers, cash flow and so on. The ability to discern whether something is just urgent or urgent and important is critical to the well being of your business.
3. Measure everything. Setting goals and keeping score are critical to realizing the vision you have for your company. Many times those goals are quantitative (more profit, more cash, less debt). Some of your goals may be more qualitative (improved client satisfaction and increased employee retention). I would encourage you to set SMART goals. SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, results oriented and time sensitive. If you have a successful vision, you will begin to see positive changes occurring in your people, your clients and your numbers. I did another article on Key Performance Indicators, which is part of the goal setting process.
I have found this practice of asking yourself the hard questions, achieving focus
and setting goals to be critical in achieving the vision you have for your business.
