Create a Tangible Strategic Vision

When it comes to creating a strategic vision for your business, a few elements likely pop into mind, such as a mission, your values or your core beliefs. While all of these factors are important, business owners can forget one very important one - making your business tangible.

Look up the definition of this word and you'll see related terms like touchable, real, solid, definite, reliable. Now you see why this is a critical aspect to include in your business's vision.

So why do so many people forget about its importance? Easy. One word: technology. In the business world, we have becoming increasingly dependent on technology. We use the latest and greatest tech items to help us get to our goals and even our bottom lines.

But truth be told, it's really the employees within a company who are helping your company stand above all the rest. And a way to really harbor this success is by building your company's vision around its workforce.

Take a look around your company and ask where your vision is. Is it on market share? Is it making your product or service the best of the best? Are you trying to constantly predict what the customer needs?

Technology is only going to get you so far. You need top-preforming individuals who are going to transform that technology into a productive tool that will raise quality and help with the business's services.

Starting from the bottom

The challenges don't stop there. Tons of companies are struggling to find the right kind of talent - the experienced, professional individuals with a hunger to succeed. But it's critical for the success of your company to find these top players.

One of the most groundbreaking things you can do is create a solid vision for the talent you want to bring aboard. Then tie that vision into the employee base to engage and attract top-of-the-line workers in your industry.

There are a few different ways you can approach creating this vision. Some companies believe that visions should be reachable and realistic. On the other hand, some people firmly believe that visions should be future-based. While some people keep these visions shorts, others are more long-term and pack a punch of emotion.

Various other companies decide to go the practical route and stick with the basics: Their vision is based around how their company is going to run and how the decisions will be made.

Either way, your vision should be tangible to your employees. Because they pay a central role in helping your company success, make sure you consider them when making your statement. Only about 30% of statements from global companies contain any kind of message geared toward the employees. Are you in that 30%?

Consider the type of work environment you want - or already have - in your office. It should be the type of environment that will ignite employees' motivation, so they will do their best work. Do you have the best resources, tools, technology, and more to help your employees create their best work? ?This way, the employees will be indirectly helping your company fulfill its mission statement.

No matter which position you hold in your company, consider the position of the CIO. The CIO has the largest hand in helping establish an environment that's employee and vision-friendly. For example, the CIO should care enough about employees to send them to training and help foster career development. There should be a greater sense of pride and responsibilities other than just the normal day-to-day routine.

Use your vision statement to guide the CIO - or yourself - to commute how each person plays a specific, critical role in the company's success. Inspire your employees to actually want ?to contribute to that success. Let each person know the support and environment they'll get in order to make them succeed.

Create a tangible vision for your company and you'll find you've inspired your employees, gotten the gears moving as you've involved their hearts and minds, and also determined what your company wants to push for outside of the boundaries. If you truly value your employee and are able to incorporate this into your vision, you'll be able to create a positive employment brand and attract even more candidates who want to do their best work for you.

In this Insivia insight, Andy talks about how important it is to create a tangible vision for your company's future.