What role does vision play in the development of your business plan? If you listen to Jack Welch it’s a big role.
“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” — Jack Welch
Step #1 in the planning process: Clarify and document your vision.
Where do you want to be in five years? What specifically will that look like? Write that down in as much detail as possible. If you are tempted to blow this off or think this is easy, you’ve probably never done it. It’s not as simple as it sounds.
Now ask yourself, what’s been holding you back? Why you aren’t already there? The answers to these questions can be enlightening. Maybe it’s because you’re confused or conflicted about what you really want. Or maybe something stands in your way that you haven’t had the awareness or courage to confront.
Don’t skimp on this phase of the planning process. If you’re unclear about your vision, your whole plan will be useless.
Taking time to understand your business, both as it is today and as you want it to be tomorrow, is not as simple as it sounds.
It helps to have a knowledgeable and objective outsider involved in the planning process. An outsider will challenge you to think creatively. You’ll be better able to see familiar situations in new ways. And it will be harder for people to get away with excuses and blame shifting.
Frankly, I think it’s a dangerous mistake for the CEO or some other senior executive from within the organization to try to facilitate this assessment exercise. All too often participating staff members try to say what they think that executive wants to hear. A “herd mentality” develops that stifles honesty and creativity.
But a competent facilitator won’t accept pat answers, clich
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