Developing a Strategic Vision for Your Business

To achieve long-term success, companies need to have a clear sense of direction. This is where a strategic vision can help. More than just a set of lofty aspirations, a strategic vision is a guide meant to keep your company focused on achieving its long-term goals. In this post, we delve into the intricacies of creating a strategic vision and explain why having one is key for the growth and sustainability of every company.

Strategic Vision Defined

Unlike a mission statement, which describes a company’s purpose and values, a strategic vision is all about the future. It’s meant to look beyond immediate targets, instead focusing on long-term goal setting and the necessary steps to achieve it. A well-crafted strategic vision not only guides decision-making and resource allocation, but can also help both you and your employees imagine where the organization will be in five, ten, or even fifteen years.

Why Do I Need a Strategic Vision?

Open Eye’s Managing Partner Taylor Tricarico, who has two decades of experience working with companies to build and manage their business and technical operations, says that not having a strategic vision is comparable to not drinking water: you can’t survive without it.

“It’s important as a foundational piece of any company that is operating towards a goal,” she says. “Everyone can follow the plan together as a way of understanding where they’re going and how they’re going to get there.”

For employees, having a strategic vision can push them to look beyond short-term challenges and towards a larger, more meaningful goal. Since a strategic vision can also help shape a company’s culture and values, it has the potential to foster collaboration within the organization. Without one, teams run the risk of operating in silos, while individual employees might feel uncertain about their role within the company, resulting in a lack of motivation and focus.

Companies without a strategic vision are also more resistant to change, making them
unable to seize new opportunities and identify potential areas of growth. Having a strategic vision means that decisions can be made with long-term sustainability in mind, allowing your company not only to better anticipate market changes and industry trends, but also allocate the necessary resources to ensure its future success.

Attributes of a Good Strategic Vision

A good strategic vision, according to Tricarico, checks four boxes: it needs to be grounded in the company’s mission statement, support the values of the business, contain detailed steps for execution and it needs to be measurable. She adds that oftentimes, companies will focus too much on those first two steps without accounting for how they’re actually going to bring the vision to life.

“You can have a vision and you can detail it, but in order for it to become a reality, it has to be based in operational and financial planning, and all of the other nitty gritty that actually gets you where you need to be,” she says.

Additionally, a strategic vision should be:

• Clear and concise: The statement should communicate the company’s long-term goals in a way that is succinct and easy to understand, ensuring that everyone within the organization can apply it to their work.

• Challenging yet attainable: It’s good to have an ambitious strategic plan, but it still needs to be grounded in reality. If the vision is unrealistic, there’s a risk of overextension or burnout. Achievable goals, on the other hand, promote a culture of continuous improvement.

• Flexible: Given the constantly changing landscape of the business world, a strategic vision should account for new market trends, technological advancements, and other unforeseen challenges. A flexible vision allows an organization to pivot its strategy when necessary, while still staying true to the mission.

How to Develop Your Strategic Vision

Creating a strategic vision requires a deep understanding of your company’s strengths and weaknesses. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you create a plan that ensures your business’s future growth and success:

• Step One: Define the Destination
  For those trying to create a strategic vision for the first time, Tricarico says the best place to start is actually at the end. She encourages companies to think about what their definition of success looks like over a certain period of time, then work backwards from there to figure out ways to reach those goals.

• Step Two: Reflect and Evaluate
  Before you focus too much on the future, it’s also important to assess where the company is at right now. What are the opportunities and potential disruptors? What sets you apart? What areas need improvement? Evaluating the current industry landscape can help you create a vision that not only addresses your company’s gaps, but capitalizes on its strengths.

• Step Three: Engage and Integrate
  Creating a strategic vision should never be a top-down process. It’s important to engage employees at all levels, welcoming their perspectives. Once you’ve gathered enough insights, create a concise and inspiring vision statement that aligns with your company’s identity and values. Then, share the vision with your team and ensure everyone understands its significance.

Sustaining Your Strategic Vision

Sustaining a strategic vision requires ongoing effort and commitment. Here are some tips to help ensure the success and longevity of yours:

• Consistency is Key
  When a strategic vision is consistently communicated, integrated into decision-making, and reflected in actions, it becomes ingrained in the company’s culture and operations. This fosters confidence among employees, investors, customers, and partners, ensuring that everyone is working towards the same long-term goal.

• Regular Review
  It’s important to regularly reassess the strategic vision to make sure it’s still aligned with market trends and internal capabilities. Tricarico suggests creating a system of reporting, review and accountability. “Your achievements within the plan should be measurable. Then they can be reported on, reviewed and the company can be held accountable for meeting those goals,” she says.

• Map Alongside Financials
  A strategic plan is only as good as its financial feasibility. Tricarico says it’s essential to build a financial model alongside your strategic plan. “One without the other isn’t going to be based in reality,” she says.

Conclusion

Crafting a good strategic vision may require a lot of thought and planning, but its importance shouldn’t be underestimated. In this age of rapid change, a strategic vision can help companies stay focused amid new challenges — and it could also be the difference between success or failure.

Interested in hiring Open Eye to develop a strategic vision session for your business? Contact us here.