I was at a meeting yesterday discussing the goals and vision of the organisation and during the talk we came up with a single vision that was so simple and embodied everything that the organisation aspired to.
It was a single sentence, very clear, we want to be in the Top 50 of Companies, currently they have a way to go, but this is definitely something that they can aspire to, that they could achieve, and something that I believe they will 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 don’t believe that anything more is needed.
One 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.
Now we see 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 sub groups 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 to 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 be Top 50, we have a simple, clear, easy to understand goal.
It will have the power to be a rallying call to the entire organisation, it will inspire them, it will 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, change how we became clearer, forward looking, sure about what we needed to do.
Now imagine that applied to an entire organisation.
It’s fantastic to be in at the start of a such great journey, to see that small spark of an idea become such a great motivating force.
This is the power of a great vision, I don’t even work or this company and yet I am very excited for them, and would love to be part of it.
I have often written about goals and how big bold goals can inspire us, but I am always amazed by it each time I experience it 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.
Gordon Tredgold
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