In a previous blog post I described a practical approach for the CEO of a growth company to turn his or her vision into reality, breaking it down into steps and assigning accountability for them.
The next three steps are critical to the success of achieving your vision.
Decide!
Decide that you as the leader of the organization are going to manage the plan and hold 
people accountable to it. This is the way to achieve a vision. If you do not manage execution of the plan, you are setting up the organization to remain on the same course as it is on today:
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Failing to achieve the company’s objectives—or make sufficient progress towards them
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Putting out daily fires
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Having no accountability but plenty of excuses
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Struggling to stay afloat
Develop a Communications Plan
Communicating your plan is a critical step because it will help the organization:
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Know where it is going
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Know the resolve of company leadership to achieve the vision
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Understand what has to change—the “baggage” that the company needs to shed
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Understand what's in it for the company
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Understand “what's in it for me”, the staff and managers charged with carrying it out
This last bullet point deserves some explanation. People do not change until they are motivated to change. I had a professor who taught that “all motivation is self-motivation.” If we adopt that idea, then the best we can do is manage the environment that helps a person to decide to change. So an important part of the communication of the strategic vision plan is to help the individual see what is truly in it for them. These could include:
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Company stability that leads to better employment security for them.
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Growth in profits which can lead to better pay, benefits, or stability.
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New customers that can lead to expansion and employment opportunities, promotions and skill building opportunities for the staff.
How to communicate the vision should be discussed with your management team. Consideration should be given to having the CEO leader make the presentation either in person or via phone or video. The technology is so cheap today in view of the power a CEO can bring in speaking to all employees directly (ever see Steve Jobs make a presentation to the Apple employees and followers)?
Execute!
In the final installment of this series, I will discuss details of how to execute the plan to make a vision real.
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Contact Phil at phil.wofford@newportboardgroup.com
