8 Questions to Achieve Your Company Vision: Have you Mapped Out Your Path for This Year?

So, you want to get to a specific location - let's say Grand Island, Nebraska. To get there in the timeliest fashion you will need a specific tool - a map. Nowadays this map may come in other forms (GPS, your phone, print out from mapquest.com, etc.), but the fact remains you still need a map to get there. You need a map because you have never been there and you don't know the way. Now, think about where you want to take your company. Have you been there before?

My hope is you want to take your company somewhere where it hasn't been. Stagnate companies don't last long. Do you have a map? This map doesn't have to be a long drawn out business plan. You heard me right. You don't have to spend weeks of your time figuring out all the details of your plan for this year. But, you do have to take the time to think through where it is you want to go and figure out the right roads that will get you there.

I hear so many business leaders tell me they know where their companies are going. "It is all in here" they say as they point to their heads. But, I would venture a guess that your employees are not mind readers and that your "plans" may not be as clear as you think. Take the time this year to get everyone in your company on the same page with where the company is going and how it is going to get there.

You can do this by answering these 8 simple questions. They are:

• What are your Core Values?
• What is your Core Focus?
• What is your 10-year target?
• What is your (high level) marketing strategy?
• What is your 3-year picture?
• What is your 1-year plan?
• What are your Rocks (quarterly priorities)?
• What are the issues getting in the way of achieving all of this?

It will take time to develop these answers but the time will be well spent. It is vital that your whole company knows the answer to these questions. If they don't, not everyone will be moving along the same path. To get to where you want to go, you need everyone's energy pulling and pushing in the same direction. If the direction isn't clear, this just isn't going to happen. A great tool to keep things simple and clear to help this process is the Vision Traction Organizer. My hope for you this Year is that you are able to get to your Grand Island, Nebraska.