Creating Your Inspiring Vision

“If you are working on something exciting, that you really care about, you don’t have to be, pushed. The vision pulls you.”
– Steve Jobs

The vision for your organization is the inspiring future state that aligns and energizes the team. A vision keeps our minds on the big thing while we are doing the small things required to get there.

The small things can get tedious and boring. The vision encourages us to keep pushing. In even the most perfect of occupations there will be activities that feel like a grind. No part of our lives will ever be sunshine and roses every day. During the hard days we and our teams can get discouraged and feel like quitting. But, if we know that this hard work is getting us closer to something great, something big, we can persevere.

That is why every great achievement, personal or organizational, starts with an inspiring vision. You must build the vision the foundation of your competitive advantage. The vision must leverage the key resources you have, or can get, to create more value for your core customers.
Vision setting is goal setting. It is not a wordsmithing exercise. A vision statement must be catchy and memorable, but that comes later. Keep your focus on setting a clear, measurable goal and don’t worry about wordsmithing for now.

There are two parts to a great vision. What most people think of when they think of vision is the vision statement. It is the catchy slogan you are used to seeing. The Ford Motor Company’s vision in the early 1900s was “to democratize the automobile.”

The most important and foundational part of a great vision statement is the vivid description. This is where you get into the details of what your organization will accomplish, act like and feel like when the goal is achieved.

When you are creating your vivid description look at the goal outcome from multiple perspectives. How would members of your community describe your company at the achievement of the vision? What about your employees and shareholders? What actions have you taken and what results have you achieved?

I like to start vision discussions with three questions that I learned from Andy Stanley, founder of North Point Community Church. They are:

1 – What is the problem we are meant to solve?

This question points you back to your competitive advantage. Who are you passionate about serving? North Point Community Church is passionate about creating a church that unchurched people would like to attend. That was their first vision. Unchurched people didn’t want to go to stuffy, traditional churches. That was the problem that launched their church.

2 – What is our solution to the problem?

This is your strategy. This is how you are going to leverage your competitive advantages to create the solution your core customers need. North Point pointed all their resources towards creating a church that unchurched people would like to attend. Everything – from the music to the lighting and the dress code was crafted to accomplish that vision.

3. Why must this problem be solved?

This question gets to your purpose. What is the bigger reason your organization exists? Beyond making money. How are you making a difference?

North Point decided to build a church that unchurched people would love to attend. They chose this vision because it is incredibly difficult to walk out your faith alone. They knew the unchurched needed to be surrounded by fellow believers. They had to create a place they felt welcome because no other church was doing it.

Microsoft wanted to put a computer on every desktop because that computer would empower individuals to do amazing things.

Henry Ford chose to “democratize the automobile” because horses were slow, inefficient and holding back progress.

Remember that a vision is not a forever thing. It is a goal. Goals have a finish line. Think of a road race. A race without a finish line gets miserable quickly. Create that inspiring finish line for your company to inspire, engage and align your team. As you get close to crossing that finish line, create your next vision.

Once they had achieved their vision of creating a church that unchurched people wanted to attend, North Point Church changed their vision. I love the simplicity and exactness of their next vision.

It was “5/50/10.” That’s it. It could be repeated easily and often because repetition is required. It fit on hats, bumper stickers and everywhere someone looked in the church. Everyone knew that it stood for the specific, measurable goal of creating 5,000 small groups with 50,000 people participating by 2010.

What is the problem your organization exists to solve?

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