Creating a business vision is one of the most impactful things you can do for your business. Why? Because your vision is the guide and inspiration for the business.
But what is a business vision?
The vision provides a view of what the business wants to be and where it wants to go
The components of vision
Purpose
Values
Winning aspirations
Purpose and Values are the core ideology of the organisation and should ideally not change often.
Purpose
Purpose says why the business exists; your reason for being (other than making money).
It is the business’s “why” - the answer to “what contribution to society are we making?”
Examples:
- Disney company: To make people happy
- Shoprite: Our purpose is to provide our customers access to affordable products wherever they are
Values
The values define “Who you are”; “What you stand for”
Your values are very important to you.
Your values guide how people behave in the business and build the culture in the long run. A fit with the values of the business, or its culture should be one of the key determining factors in the recruitment process.
Performance appraisal should consider both performance and behaviour - behaviour should be assessed against the values of the business.
Business culture drives employee behaviour; employee behaviour that is aligned to the business’s values results in a better functionating business.
Your business should ideally have between 3 and 5 core values.
Examples:
- Disney company: no cynicism; attention to detail; creativity and imagination
- Shoprite: Doing the right thing, saving to share and developing local.
Winning aspirations
Winning aspirations is a picture of what the ideal future for the business looks like; what success for the business will look like in 3, 5 or 10 years time.
The aspirations are not certainties, and ideally should be large enough for there to be uncertainty about achieving it, but you must believe that you can achieve it.
Winning aspirations may include target financial results.
These may be associated with the the building blocks of your business model.
The aspirations may also be summarized in to a single, overarching statement.
Reflect your aspirations in the present tense
Link your aspirations to specific future dates.
Examples: It is 5 September 2025 and:
- We have a staff compliment of 100 people
- We have physical presence in each of the 9 provinces
- We have an annual turnover of more than R100m.
A vision that is compelling, bought in and communicated across the business will result in employees:
Satisfying the business purpose every day
Living the business values every day
Working towards achieving the winning aspirations every day
Need help crafting a compelling vision for your business? Contact us at info@choicewyze.co.za or +27 87 0929 286
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