Vision is a future-oriented mindset that focuses on what could be. Successful entrepreneurs have a strong idea of what they want to accomplish in the future. They spend every day envisioning this idea and planning how they will make this dream into a reality. Vision can be small, but for exceptionally successful businesses the vision is massive and only needs support to create it. How can you capitalize on vision to recruit top talent and grow your business?
Here are six ways to push your business forward with the future you envision.
#1 Use Your Vision As A Tool
Rather than limit the vision for your company to the about page of your website or your company’s motto, use your vision in all of your daily communication. Share your ideas with your stakeholders including investors, suppliers, customers, potential and current employees, the media, and board members. When you incorporate the future version of your company, rather than its current state, your concepts will entice stakeholders to buy into your premise. For instance, think of Kickstarter. Many of the campaigns on Kickstarter are based on the vision of the creators. Before the product is in any usable state, these entrepreneurs are already gathering fans and possible talent. People donate purely based on the future. If you are able to make potential stakeholders see the gem that just needs more time to be unearthed, your business will grow.
#2 Talk About The Future And Little Else
Your audience doesn’t want to hear about what you have, they want to know what you have planned. When you discuss the future of your business you constantly build suspense. If you are talking with the media and you have just one employee, tell the media of your projected amount of employees. Focus on what you will have, not what you have. People are fascinated with the unknown and the future is the great unknown they are unable to explore. Constantly tell them of how you have carved out space in the future. Make them see your dream and then show them how you’re going to make it happen.
#3 Attract Top Talent Using Your Vision’s Process
An amazing feature of vision is the ability to change users’ perceptions of the product in the present by selling the product’s future. Let’s say you were looking for a new-to-you car and came upon a car but it was rusted, needed a paint job and three wheels, and was missing two windows. You would skip over this car, thinking it was a piece of junk. But, if the car dealer told you of the new engine, tinted windows, and bodywork they were going to put on it, you would rethink your decision.
The vision of your company does the same thing. It pulls in the top talent, who would skip over your company, just by the thought of what you will accomplish in the future. Having a clear purpose and being able to communicate this well is the main skill needed to grow your business. When you are recruiting talent, look for people who have vision. If you explain what you have planned and the potential hire doesn’t have any spark of excitement, this isn’t the right person for your company because they are grounded in the present. Focus only on talent that can project into the future.
#4 Gather Your Employees To Discuss Your Company’s Vision
When growing your business, you want all who touch it to be on the same page. After you have clarified your vision, you can bring employees up to speed by reading your vision together. An excellent exercise that will help your employees believe in your vision and use their talents to meet every expectation is to:
Give each employee a copy of your vision and read it aloud sentence by sentence
Highlight sentences that excite them
Read these exciting sentences out loud
This exercise will turn your vision into their vision. It will become a tangible item they can grasp if only they put their talents, creativity, and enthusiasm to use in the present. When you ensure your employees, customers, and other stakeholders regard your vision as a reality that needs more time, you are bonding them to you.
#5 Review Your Vision
By reviewing your vision quarterly, you ensure your employees are familiar, excited, and understands how their work contributes to it. An exercise you can use to motivate your employees includes asking them to reread the vision statement out loud, envision how they can ensure each statement is true, highlight each sentence green, yellow, or red so your entire team can how much progress has been made, and transform each sentence into a project that must be completed by someone. This will keep the vision at the forefront of all of your employees’ mind, so they can see the bigger picture.
#6 Turn Prospects Into Loyal Fans
After you have created a vision statement that is compelling and captures your core ideas, you will want to send it to potential, or current customers, quarterly. This will remind them of what you are building at your company and what you believe in. Combined with excellent products, customer service, and a scintillating vision, you will cultivate loyal fans that are eager for everything you have to offer.
All of these possibilities are not possible without a vision. Build your future in your mind as clearly as possible and then plan it in the present. With this goal, you can inspire your employees, customers, prospects, and yourself.
