If you follow us on social media you have probably noticed January has been full of goal setting and self-reflection messages. If you don’t follow us on social media, then you’re missing out! Head over to Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn and connect with us now!
It’s always a good time to reflect on the past, the present - are we meeting today’s goals, and the future - where are we headed? If you haven’t had the opportunity to break away and set yourself up for success this year it’s not too late! Make it your priority over the next couple days to carve out some time for reflection, strategizing, and vision building. Your vision is the direction you see your organization or department moving. It’s what’s next, what’s better, and what’s challenging that will push your team in the direction of excellence.
WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN STRATEGIZING
What is your vision? Leadership is charged with the task of creating the vision for the organization and the team. Without vision your success and the success of your organization, or department, is completely out of your control. Review where you are now and the direction you’d like to go. Be sure you can answer these two questions because you’ll need to have those answers to get the buy in from your team. Put your vision in writing. Share it with others on the leadership team. Discuss the pros and cons, discuss whether it’s achievable, discuss variations to your vision, then commit to your vision and sell it to your team.
Once you have your vision, determine if you have the resources necessary to make it to that level. Do you have the necessary people on the team with the necessary skills to make your vision a reality? If so, do people need to be shifted to new roles or expanded roles? If not, can current employees be trained to obtain those skills, or will you be required to make new hires? Resources also include time, space, equipment, etc. Keep those in mind when creating your vision. Be sure you can set the team up with the required resources to meet the new vision. Does the benefit of meeting the vision outweigh the cost of obtaining the resources necessary? If not, how can you modify the vision so it makes sense?
You’re ready to create a plan to meet the vision. Involve your leadership team in the goal setting plan that includes a timeline. You’ll most likely need to break the plan down into smaller increments, possibly by month, to make realizing the vision more manageable. Have meetings with the entire workforce to roll out the new vision. Paint a picture for them so they fully buy in. Be sure they can see the benefits, the advantages, how the new vision affects them, the department, the organization and the customers. Get them excited about how far the company has come, where it is going, and how they are valuable to the implementation of the goals. Listen to and implement ideas they have that enhance the plan you have created to meet the vision.
Lastly, regularly schedule a time to review the plan. Staying aware of where you are in the process is the responsibility of the leadership team, and critical to meeting your goals. Make sure you’re on schedule, make changes if you’re not. Stick with it and by the end of the year you’ll find your hard work will pay off!
Don’t forget we’re here to help! If training in vision building or goal setting is something that would benefit your leadership team, give us a call. We’d love to be part of the story of your success.
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