About 22% of employees think that their company’s management team has a clear vision for the organization.
It’s a sign that leaders and employees spend too much time on day-to-day tasks without a reason behind them. Without a strong creative vision, the tasks become mundane.
Motivation and engagement levels decline over time. That’s only part of the importance of a creative vision.
The term creative vision isn’t reserved for artists. It’s for everyone, entrepreneurs included.
Why do you need a creative vision? Keep reading to learn what is creative vision, why you need it, and how to make it a reality in your business.
The Importance Of A Creative Vision
The vision shouldn’t be confused with a mission statement. Companies tend to use both of them.
The mission statement explains the purpose of the company and what it does. Google’s mission is to “Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
The vision statement describes how the company exists in the world and what it would like to achieve.
The vision statement gives both employees and customers a chance to be a part of something bigger than themselves. It’s meant to be inspirational and remind employees why they show up to work every day.
It’s also the foundation of your company’s strategy. You can look at your vision statement and form action items and plans around achieving it.
How To Create A Creative Vision
A creative vision for your business needs to inspire, whether it’s for yourself as a solopreneur, or if you’re leading a team of employees.
Vision statements can apply to the business, the brand, and your personal life. We’re going to focus on creating a vision statement for your business.
Start by getting together the main stakeholders in your organization. Company leaders, employees, vendors, and clients should have a say in your vision.
These are going to be the most challenging two or three sentences you’ll write. Take a look at your mission statement, purpose, goals, culture, and values.
The team should ask a few questions about the direction of the company. Address how you want the company to impact the community and the world.
Ask about the customer experience and how people outside of the company interact with the organization. Finally, speak to the culture of the organization. How does the company culture impact the lives of your employees?
Take all of the information in front of you and start drafting statements. This should happen across several brainstorming sessions.
If you’re having trouble crafting a vision statement, look at examples of other companies for inspiration. You can also use vision statement templates to help you get started.
Use A Vision Board
About 20% of successful entrepreneurs have a vision board for their business. It’s amazing to learn that 76% of them say their business matches the visions and images they started with.
In other words, vision boards work.
A vision board is a board with images that allows you to visualize where your business is going to be.
It’s easy and fun to make a vision board. Find images that give you a sense of excitement and joy. The stronger the response, the more effective the vision board will be.
If you want to create a vision board, get a poster board or corkboard. Think about your vision and what life is like for you and your company when you achieve the vision.
Look for images that match that end result. You can find images on Pinterest and free stock image sites like Pixabay and Pexels.
Spend time with your vision statement and vision board on a daily basis. Visualize where your business is in the future. This has a neurological impact and rewires your brain to accept the vision as reality.
You’ll find that you’re more creative, inspired, and motivated as a result.
Turning Your Vision Into Reality
Creating a vision is great, but it’s nothing without implementing your vision. This is the major challenge that businesses face.
Change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and a firm commitment by the management team and employee buy-in.
Once you have your company vision, share it with employees. Get feedback and make any adjustments to the vision statement.
Once you have a final product, then create a strategy with it. Determine the path your business will take to get there.
From the strategy, you’ll create measurable objectives, benchmarks, and action items. Work with each department to ensure everyone is clear on their action items, roles, and responsibilities.
If there are changes that are too large to make, get a consultant team to help you with implementation. The IT team might need assistance with Sitecore implementation or other migrations to support the vision.
Leaders have to demonstrate the vision through their actions. They can’t say that the vision of the company is to help everyone live healthier lives while they step outside to smoke.
Look at your business processes and see which ones support the new vision and which ones need to change. Prioritize the action items and identify risks associated with making the change and keeping the status quo.
As you make the changes, continue to monitor the business and see if there are other changes to make.
Drive Business With a Creative Vision
What can you do with a creative vision? It’s a way to inspire and motive you, your clients, and your employees. It gives everyone a shared purpose. It also shows the impact you want your company to have in the world beyond making money.
The creative vision forms the basis of your strategy, and it’s not always easy to implement in your business. Work the steps outlined in this article, and you’ll have a vision that you can turn into reality.
Do you want more inspirational insights to help you grow your company? Head over to the home page of this site for more helpful articles.
