For employees to care about a company's vision, they need to understand its direction and why. It’s a leader's job to create and communicate the vision.
Leaders must create a clear vision for their company that outlines who you are as an organization, where you’re going, and what role the team plays in this vision.
Start your vision planning by thinking about your organization three years from now. Answer the following questions:
- Describe what services, products, and solutions your company delivers to clients.
- What do your revenue numbers look like, and how are you getting paid? (e.g., revenue streams, fees, commissions from carriers or other services)
- What does your staffing look like? (e.g., positions, number of people, new hires)
- What resources/skills do you have internally developed and are using consistently?
- How and where are you sharing your company message?
- What reasons would your clients give for choosing to hire and continue working with you?
After you have descriptions for each of the above items, summarize the ideas into a short paragraph to share with your team.
Communicate the vision
If you have the company's future vision outlined in your mind or documented but not regularly discussed, you need to make a change. As a leader and steward of the company vision, it’s your responsibility to communicate the vision to the team constantly.
Create a company communication plan where you are delivering the vision message repeatedly. You may get tired of talking about it, but that level of communication is necessary for the team to hear it repeatedly. Allow the team to know the vision as well as you do. When they start repeating it with you, you’re achieving your goal.
When talking with the team about the vision, use these talks to guide what employees can and should be doing to help make the vision a reality. Recognize groups and individuals for how they have directly contributed to moving the company closer to the defined vision.
Sharing these suggestions and accomplishments reinforces the importance that leadership places on achieving the vision, which is critical for the company's future.