ADVANCING WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Creating a winning vision: Pippa Isbell’s step-by-step guide

Topic: Leadership

The prospect of creating a vision can strike fear – or boredom – into the heart of any busy manager. After all, isn’t it just corporate gobbledegook – one more thing to stop you getting on with your job?

Not quite, says Pippa Isbell, business consultant, leadership guru and presenter of our webinar, How to create a motivating vision: “Having a vision is the difference between routine management and inspirational leadership. One keeps the business ticking over; the other leads to growth and success,” she says.

If you lack confidence in your ability to create a winning vision, or simply don’t know where to start, you’re not alone: 79% of everywoman Network members are in the same boat. Only a confident one fifth have a clear idea of their future workplace. Happily, this is well within your grasp: “It’s possible; it just requires time, thought and planning,” says Pippa.

STEP ONE: Train your visioning muscle every chance you get

There’s nothing mysterious about creating a vision. It’s simply a matter of brainstorming with your team until you hit on a winning idea of the future that everyone can buy into and work towards. You don’t have to wait until you’re running the organisation to define your direction. On the contrary, says Pippa Isbell, “Whatever rung of the ladder you’re on at the moment, it’s a good idea to start training your leadership muscle.” Take stock of the power and decision-making abilities you have right now, be it at a team, department, division or organisation level, and ask yourself what you’d like to change. Practise thinking bigger too, asking: “If I were in charge, where would I take this right now?”

STEP TWO: Carve out time to think

“There is little time to think about why you do what you do, about the meaning and purpose of your work beyond the immediate deliverables. It’s no wonder routine crowds out strategy.”

Over a quarter of everywomanNetwork members (27%) have fallen short of creating a compelling vision because they can’t find the time in their day to day. Envisioning a clear image of the future isn’t something you can do between responding to urgent emails and filing a report to your boss so you’ll need to carve out thinking space among your busy schedule.

STEP THREE: Put every idea on the table

“A really good brainstorming session doesn’t involve anyone saying, ‘Ah, but that won’t work’. You need a vision so big that it’s compelling so all ideas have to be on the table.”

The golden rule of any brainstorm is there’s no such thing as a bad idea. Welcome all opinions, however silly, intangible or off the wall. In fact, setting the group the task of coming up with the most ridiculous solution to the problem at hand is not only a great ice breaker; those ideas can also evolve into the best thinking.

The types of questions you might want to pose in your group session are:

Why do we do what we do?
What’s our ultimate mission?
How do we measure success?
What’s the natural next step for our team?
How can we be more ambitious?
In what activity are we the strongest competitors?
In what arena can we expect to become even more successful?

“These are not questions you can answer in five minutes,” cautions Pippa. “Think of it as the beginning of the investigation process that can lead to that ‘ah-ha’ moment.”

STEP FOUR: Become a hunter-gatherer of information

After the brainstorm comes the strategy work – turning that winning idea into a meaningful plan of action. Ask yourself what you already know that can help you formulate and progress your plan. Acknowledge any knowledge gaps and how you’ll fill them. Who from your network can help? What guidance can your mentor offer? Who is your strongest competition and what can you learn from them? What are your team’s strengths and weaknesses that may help and hinder? What additional resources do you require? Remember that your team will be more likely to buy into your vision if you involve them, not only at the ideas stage but in the strategy-building phase too.

STEP FIVE: Define the vision, as clearly as possible

Visions come unstuck when they lack clarity. A team of rowers who define their vision as “win an Olympic gold medal” will behave less strategically than the team who spend time figuring our that in order to win, they need to make their boat go faster than anyone else’s. Once they know this, they can ensure that they prioritise those actions that result in a faster boat. Keep stripping away at your vision until it resembles a clear mission statement that offers clarity for every stakeholder.

STEP SIX: Say what you see

So, you’ve hit upon your winning idea; now it’s time to share it far and wide. In communicating your vision, you’ll need to draw on your visualisation skills, as well as the influencing techniques that feel authentic to you.