Once, I was in a meeting where we were discussing the organization’s goals and vision, and during the discussion, we came up with a single vision that was simple but also embodied everything that the organisation desired.
It was a single sentence, very clear, “We want to be in the Top 50 of Companies”. At the time they had a way to go, but this was definitely something that they could aspire to, that they could achieve, and something that I believed they would achieve.
As we discussed it, we wondered whether just one goal would be enough for the vision, but it’s such a powerful statement of intent that I didn’t believe that anything more was needed.
Once we accepted that and started to talk about what it would mean, it became very clear that it would require a lot of other goals to be achieved as there are at least 8 criteria that need to be met in order to increase the rating.
We saw that our single goal now multiplies into 8 sub-goals, all of which are clear and understandable, and which I believe can be focused on in parallel, as different subgroups own those different goals.
Imagine if we had increased our vision to have three or four components, and each of these had 8 sub-goals, now we would be in a position where we would need to focus on 24-32 sub-goals, which now starts to increase beyond the limit we can manage.
With such a large number we start to introduce complexity, confusion and possibly even conflict.
With our proposed vision of being in the Top 50, we had a simple, clear, easy-to-understand goal.
It had the power to be a rallying call to the entire organisation, it would inspire them, and it would be something that they will be proud of when achieved.
You could feel the whole dynamic of the meeting, and there were only 6 of us in the meeting, changed, how we became clearer, forward-looking, and sure about what we needed to do.
Now imagine that applied to an entire organisation.
It was fantastic to be at the start of a such great journey and to see that small spark of an idea become such a great motivating force.
This is the power of a great vision, I didn’t even work for this company and yet I was very excited for them, and loved being a part of it.
I have often written about goals and how big bold goals can inspire us, but I am always amazed by them each time I experience them again, I don’t think my articles ever capture the real sense of how powerful they can be.
A big bold vision a team can buy into can really change the mood of an entire organisation, from senior management right the way down the ranks.
Imagine what you can achieve when you can do that.
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