‘Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is insanity’ said Einstein. One of my good friends who had been running his organization for nearly 12 years couldn’t agree more.
After a fair share of highs as a business, the growth rate stalled and then started going downhill. Post an initial resistance that most of us would pose to change, he quickly realized it was time to hit ‘Refesh’.
As a first step to the complete overhauling for the organization, he set out to write the new vision statement.
I volunteered to help and he was more than happy to get as many thoughts from his trusted aides as possible. After all I had been a part of it the first time around and it kind of worked.
I was excited. I was getting to be part of one of the most important steps in carving the organization’s journey ahead. We sat down together with his team. The first 30 minutes was brainstorming with his team and the excitement continued. The latter part of the day, however, was a different story.
3 hours into the process, I was still glaring into the bare screen of my laptop struggling to formulate the vision statement.
Creating a vision statement is a daunting task for sure but I know if I could, it would be one solid statement encapsulating not only the core ideals that would give the business it’s shape and direction but also a roadmap to where it wants to go.
But what does the perfect Vision Statement look like?
Experience tells me that a good vision statement should have the following elements:
- It should be audacious – Not unrealistic but not too easy. Should present the picture anyone would dream to be a part of. This would be step 1 to my brand building
- It should be future oriented – Unless I am 100% sure about where I want to go and why I want to go there, how do I choose the road ahead and why should I even go there? Given the times we operate in, I would stick to a 5 year timeline to achieve it.
- It should reflect the organization’s values – Do I just go ruthless to achieve what I want at any cost or do I define the set of rules about how I want to achieve the goal,for myself and my people who will play an important role in achieving the end goal?
- It should be clear and concise so everyone, right from the stakeholders to employees to customers and the society at large understand it the same way
- It should inspire enthusiasm and commitment from the team – This is will not only attract the right talent but also give them the reason to want to keep pushing their limits.
Reaching out to all experts especially new entrepreneurs. Would you suggest I keep in mind something else? What according to you makes the perfect Vision Statement?
Harshita Tiwari is Partner and Head of Sales at I Train Consultants
