Do you know where you’re going in your business, and do your team know which direction you’re headed? It’s up to you to provide the beacon for navigation with an agreed Vision Statement, driving the right types of winning behaviour in your team.
WE LOVE the song Ship of Fools by World Party. It’s a reasonable commentary on how some real estate agencies once operated. ‘Where’s it coming from? Oh where’s it going to? It’s just a ship of fools’. We didn’t need to know where we were going; we just needed to know when the sale went ‘unconditional’! For many agents money was the only driver.
About 15 years ago, the futurists starting talking about a more flexible workforce, with a higher number of casuals as well as greater mobility between jobs. Today we have a different working environment from a ‘ship of fools’.
The average tenure within the Australian workplace is four years. People will not stay where they are unhappy, especially Gen Y and the soon- to-be-a-consideration Gen Z. These cohorts have traditionally been the engine rooms of our business. Their enthusiasm and effort was often enough to compensate for their youthful inexperience. Now if this influential group is to be utilised effectively, the challenge is to have them connect to your business in a way that recognises their potential and input while also encouraging the more established members of your team. How do we do this? One way is to create a Vision Statement.
THE VISION IS THE GLUE
Creating a Vision Statement is not rocket science, and you do not need a team of management consultants! An effective Vision Statement is agreed, easy to understand and quick to buy into. In the 1970s, Honda’s vision was ‘We will destroy Yamaha’. Simple: you are either on board or you’re not. And everything you do in the company is to further that end.
There are some brilliant Vision Statements and there are some very average ones. Too many get lost in translation with no one knowing exactly what it means to work there. Rule Number 1 is Make it simple! Your people must be able to relate to the vision, know what they are doing day-to-day that supports it and feel good about their efforts.
WHO DECIDES THE VISION?
As leader you will instigate it, but Rule Number 2 is involve everyone at the early stages. Gen Y and Gen Z need a process where they have input or an understanding of ‘what it means to work here’. If there’s no ‘buy- in’, there will be ‘opt-out!’
GET A LODESTONE RATHER THAN A MILLSTONE
As real estate companies get bigger, rather than becoming a millstone the ship (your business) needs a compass with a lodestone that magnetises results and money. Your vision is that compass. It keeps everyone heading in the same direction and makes it easy to spot when someone is not on track. The benevolent dictatorship is replaced with a simple coaching question: ‘Do you think what you are doing is in line with where we are going?’ People will answer honestly for themselves. In the right leader’s hands, the compass or vision is a wonderful tool.
DO IT TOGETHER
Rule Number 3 is Get it agreed. You as the leader must sell the idea to the team. If you can’t sell the idea, then you haven’t explained the benefits well enough. Organise a collective team meeting off-site. Get your people excited and have them brainstorm in small groups or by department, knowing that their opinion does count. Aim to produce an agreed Vision Statement, or at worst two options for all to come back to in a week’s time.
Rule Number 4 is Build your pillars. Work with your people or a selected team to pull out how the vision translates to everyone’s day-to-day activities. Agree on a set of pillars (short statements, rules or principles) against which your people can benchmark their activities in the daily grind or core business to see if they are ‘on vision’.
SETTING COURSE
Rule Number 5 is Reinforce, reinforce and reinforce. The leader’s message and actions must be consistent across every activity, attitude and communication. They must reinforce that ‘this is where we are going and this is who we are’. Reviewed annually, this living document will help to take stock of where you are as a company and where you are heading. Like any seaworthy vessel, once it has an agreed destination, a set compass and a willing crew; your chances of succeeding in having a business rather than a job is greatly increased. Or you could stay with the ship of fools – it’s your vision!
