THE VISION

Organisations need vision, not a vision statement. The “Vision, Mission and Values” process is rolled out in countless organisations, gets put into a poster on the wall and usually is utterly meaningless. For a start, most confuse purpose and an objective. Many appear to be designed by a well meaning committee. It feels good but does not address relevance, competition or impart the sense of urgency to perform and to fulfil the potential of the organisation and leadership. As Greg Bustin a great Texas Vistage Chair and speaker on accountability says “Clarity creates Confidence”

A vision for the future describes the ecosystem in which the organisation will exist, the activities, behaviours and consequences of the vision. It makes it clear how the industry and sector will evolve and lays out the role that your specific organisation can play.

Reason for Being - Relevance

Simon SInek in his famous TED talk suggests we start with “Why"?”.

This makes sense, especially if there has been a drift from the original founder’s purpose. Many of the most famous strategy pivots have been by businesses needing to re-invent their purpose to remain relevant to a shift in customer demand.

Jim Collins developed a model of the hedgehog asking “What are we passionate about?” which to my mind is close to why we exist. This also ensures we are honest about what our core market is - recognising we may target customers beyond that to ensure an economically viable model.

Another way of exploring this is our sphere of influence - which leads to the second part of Collins' hedgehog “what can we be the best in the world at?” I often encourage people to reflect on what they do, look elsewhere in the world and say “We are as good as anybody in that sphere”

This so often is much harder work than it should be. often businesses try to answer these questions in the terms of how they are unique. But that comes later!

OUTSIDE IN VISION

How many “vision statements” have you read or heard that leave you no wiser about what the organisation is trying to achieve?

“This is what it will look like” is where we start. But for the industry sector we serve, not our own organisation. There is usually consensus about what the industry and the end customers will look like - possibly not so much about the speed at which it will happen. Once the Vision for industry sector is described, then it is easier to define the types of organisation that will compete in this space and the roles that they play.

We can the define the implications to our organisation, the other players we might need to work with, thus making choices about the role our own organisation might play. This minimises the risk of a headstrong CEO making a bold “Vision Statement” without the options being spelt out first.

Positioning in a COMPETITIVE ECOSYSTEM

While Michael Porter’s five forces model is excellent to persist with the Outside-In thinking, competitive rivalry models have developed to ensure that current competitive pressures are mapped. My favourite is the simple “Radar Screen” which allows emerging competitors to be mapped alongside the more conventional players.

The dimensions vary depending on the industry - it may size, product range, geographical focus, time horizon, service levels etc.

It leads to powerful visuals that drive engaged discussion and understanding of the key role that market positioning plays in defining the competitive strategy