How to be vision driven: 3 guiding steps

We all have them, friends and family members who are browsing through Tinder, day in and day out, eagerly trying to score a date. To accomplish this, they try to figure out how to create the most effective Tinder profile.

Various reports have shown that a picture with a dog or playing music works very well. So, What happens; They pretend be animal lovers or want to be seen as musicians by posting a picture while holding a guitar. The result: a ton of likes and swipes start coming in. But the dates will be disappointing.

This is what we see all the time. People try to portray an image which is different from who they really are. Actually playing the guitar requires daily practice and a picture with your aunt’s dog doesn’t make you an animal lover. Most people will probably agree with me: If you’re on Tinder, displaying a better image of yourself won’t take long before it’s exposed. It’s not appealing and I think most people would agree with that.

But in business we tend to do the exact same thing we shouldn’t be doing on Tinder.

In our experience a lot of organizations start with their strategy; Increasing profits, reducing costs or increasing productivity by working more efficiently. These strategies are very detailed. They’re developed and proudly presented to the shareholders: "This is how we are going to make more profit!"

What these companies do next is add storytelling to the mix and slap a purpose on it: "We care about the planet" or "Our employees are our top priority”. It’s like they’re looking for the “Why”. They watch the well-known video by Simon Sinek, "Start with the Why" and suddenly decide that they also need a why!" But the problem is that they do that after making their strategy, which doesn’t work if you ask me.

This is of course the exact same thing as borrowing your aunt's dog or grab a guitar, for the sole purpose of taking a picture. It’s not authentic and people feel and see that. The result is counterproductive. People will see right through the facade and they’ll notice that in reality, it’s all about efficiency, reducing the costs and keeping the shareholders happy.

I’ve experienced this in my own business. After three years of building our company, working hard and having lot’s of fun we got to the point where our financial results were more important than our "raison d’être". We focused on monthly sales targets, became result driven and were constantly measuring output. We had a vision, a very inspiring one actually, but our daily work was not congruent with this vision. Quite the opposite, because focusing on targets drove us away from the projects and clients we loved. We tried to solve that with nice team-building events and inspirational Fridays, but that’s of course not authentic. We had to learn it the hard way. Our company stagnated and we were forced to radically downsize our team and to change directions. To stay in the Tinder analogy, we got plenty of swipes because of our nice pictures, but the date turned out to be quite disappointing.

The key is to do it the other way around. This is what people tend to forget. Let's be honest. Companies want their employees to be as productive as possible and of course we understand that companies have to keep an eye on the expenses. But as Simon Sinek says, (and what is often misinterpreted):"Start with the why".

Now you might wonder: How do I do that? Here are 3 steps I want to share to accomplish this:

Step 1. Start with making an inspiring vision

Where is the company going? What is your dream? If you’re leading an organization, people want to be guided by you. Where does the company go? What will it look like, how does it feel? You’re the one who should create an inspiring story.

We had to undergo the exact same thing. We found that quite difficult at first, but we soon noticed that it was a lot easier than we thought. We had to go back to our core feelings. Why did we started our company 5 years ago? “Because we wanted to design incredible visuals that could help others…And our culture is fantastic! As part of the team building program our team goes on a retreat every year.” By going back to our core feelings, we got the urge to share these feelings and our story. And it was that story what makes people excited.

This is where storytelling starts. You should have a story that displays where you’re going as a company. A personal story, a visual story that catches people’s attention and inspires them.

Step 2. Engage your employees

Before you come up with a strategy or think of anything else for that matter, you should first ask your employees the following questions: What do you like about this company? How do you think we can help the company move forward? What can we improve on?

Just ask your employees. People want to be involved in the company. Start with: "Why are we doing this?" What is our vision? "Try to visualize that, so people actually feel it when you share your vision, and so they’ll think: "This is a company I want to work for! I feel good about this! What they do is impressive!” Start with questions such as: What does your company stand for? What do we love to do? Ask your employees, what they’re proud of?

If this is the basis and if you have a good sense of the core, the rest will come naturally. People will automatically work harder and they’ll definitely understand that as a company, the costs cannot exceed certain levels and that you have to keep the shareholders in mind, but what matters most is that the company makes incredible products. This is the reason why your employees get up and go to work every day!

Step 3. Live by it, every day

Do not place your vision at the bottom of a drawer, never to be seen again. We see this all the time: A company vision that was once written during a brainstorm day is now collecting dust at the bottom of a drawer. It shouldn’t! This is the basis of all communication. "This is where we’re heading. In three years, the world will look like this." This is the starting point for everything you do.

A vision driven approach unleashes the creativity of the staff of UNDP Moldova

Now you might think: That sounds really nice and all, but what about the strategy?

You’ll see that the strategy comes naturally. People rely heavily on their feelings and were not born yesterday. You should tell them where you’re heading as a company and what the road-map is. You should also tell them that a number of milestones have to be reached and that you have to follow certain paths to do so. A strategy is nothing more than a way to get there. However, people should first understand, feel and know why they have to reach these goals and why it’s good for them. How they’ll get there is very important, but that’s step 2. You’ll see that step 2 is much easier if you’ve already reached step 1.

As a company, we also went through these three steps. After a couple of months sweating we came up with our vision for Ink Strategy. What we liked most in our work was playfully and visually guiding people towards a better and brighter future. The projects we did with organizations like the United Nations and the World Economic Forum were very inspiring to us. Or the projects where we really motivated people to be more creative and collaborative. Hence our new mission; Playfully guiding people towards a bright future! In every project we do this is our key deliverable.

So start with your vision, your story, engage and align your colleague and practice what you preach, live your vision! Day in day out, and results will follow.

Are you completely focused on strategy, goals or targets and do you feel like you could use some help after reading this article? Then allow us to help you!

We have a beautiful visual way to tell a perfect story and to inspire people to accomplish your future goals. Interested? Feel free to contact me!

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