What do you think of when you hear the word vision? Do you picture yourself on the edge of your seat, anxiously anticipating what your boss has to say during his annual review? Does the thought of creating a vision statement give you anxiety, because it feels forced and doesn’t speak to who you truly are as an entrepreneur? Vision casting is much more than that; it’s about connecting with your audience and inspiring them to believe in what you’re doing as an entrepreneur. Vision casting can help you and your team keep your focus on what’s truly important as you work toward achieving success. Here are some tips on how to cast vision in business, plus a few examples of vision casting done well by real-life companies.
What is Vision Casting?
Vision casting is the process of developing a long-term strategy for an organization. It’s about answering questions such as Who is this organization? and What does it do? Vision casting has two parts: getting clear on what your organization stands for, and then turning that into a clear plan of action. The result is a roadmap that will guide your company towards its goals with certainty and purpose.
To start thinking through these questions, we recommend starting with the following:
1) What are your organizational values?
2) What are the three words you want people to use when they think of your company?
3) What do you want people who have interacted with your organization to feel like afterwards?
4) What does success look like for you five years from now?
5) What does success look like for you ten years from now?
6) How will you know if you’re successful ten years from now?
7) Where would someone find a copy of your current annual report (financial statements)?
8) Why should someone invest their money in this organization rather than another one?
9) Why should someone work here rather than somewhere else?
10) What makes us different or better than our competitors?
11) Is there anything that I left out that’s important to include?
Vision Casting: Steps for Implementing a Business Vision
To cast a vision for your business, you need to be able to identify the needs of your customers. Once you know what they are looking for, it will be easier for you to create and implement the steps necessary. Without an idea of who your customers are and what they want, it can be difficult to find success as a company. In this blog post, we will discuss three steps that you can take today that will help you cast a powerful vision that sets your company apart from others in the industry.
Know the Vision
Vision is the most important factor when it comes to success in any venture, but how do you know what your vision is? Vision is a combination of passion, purpose, and goals. It’s that idea that burns inside of you and never goes away. If you’re unsure about your passions and purposes, think back on the times when you were truly fulfilled. Did those moments have anything in common? Do they point to a particular direction or cause for which you may want to commit your life? If so, then this could be your vision. The more time and energy you put into understanding what this picture looks like for yourself, the clearer it will become.
See the Vision
Vision doesn’t happen by accident. It requires intentionality and diligence. But the good news is, you can learn to do it. Vision casting is a process that involves intentional thinking and planning.
Vision casting is a process that involves intentional thinking and planning. Here are four steps that will help you effectively cast your vision: 1) identify your values; 2) spend time with God every day; 3) pray for wisdom, strength, courage and discernment; 4) share your story with others – tell them what God has done for you and how he wants to use you now.
Share the Vision
Vision is the way you see your future. It’s a picture of where you want to be and what you want to create, based on your deepest beliefs about yourself and the world. We’re all born with a natural, God-given sense of how we should live out our lives–our purpose–but as we grow up and experience life, it becomes harder for us to find that purpose. As parents, friends, siblings, colleagues, or bosses, we have an opportunity every day to help someone else reconnect with their sense of direction by showing them our own clear view of what they’re striving for. That’s what casting vision means: helping someone else see where they are going by sharing your own clear view of the future.
Daily Conversations
I have been trying to better understand what it means to cast a vision for the company and the people involved. In order to do this, I am starting by understanding why we do what we do. For example, what are our goals? What are our short-term and long-term visions? What does success look like for us? What is our culture? I think that it is also important for me as the owner of this company, but also any new hires or anyone on my team, to be able to answer these questions about themselves. Once we can answer these questions about ourselves and how they intersect with the organization’s mission and values, then we can go from there. It will be easier for us all to know where our priorities need to lie.
Monthly Meetings
The first thing we do at the beginning of every month is a new-idea meeting. We will either introduce something new or talk about what we are doing and what the goals are. We then have a time where everyone can share their ideas, which is always really inspiring. Then we create teams based off the project that needs to be done and set deadlines for each person in the group. At these meetings, there’s usually someone from every department present so that they can get as much information as possible about how their work affects other departments, which helps people communicate better with each other.
Weekly Overviews
- Define the Vision
- Gain support and buy-in
- Communicate the Vision
- Identify Risks and Mitigate Them
- Set Goals for Successful Execution of the Vision
Celebrate success
Every day we make decisions about what’s most important. This can be a difficult task if we don’t have a clear vision of where we’re headed.
When you are able to see the end goal and envision the steps that will take you there, it is much easier to make decisions with confidence and clarity. When you know your values and mission, it is easier to focus on what really matters.
Achieving success doesn’t happen overnight, but when you have a clear sense of where your priorities lie, it’s much easier to take the next step forward.
Conclusion
Vision is important because it gives your company direction. Without a sense of direction, your team will not know what to do or where they are going. Vision also inspires creativity and innovation. The more vague the vision, the less likely you will be able to execute on it. It’s important that the founders of a company have a clear idea of what they want their company to become so they can share this with others and keep them motivated. Vision should be something that excites people and causes them to invest themselves into making it happen! So if you’re stuck on how to cast vision in your business, think about what really matters to you and then consider how it might look in five years or ten years down the road. Is it safety? Is it charity work? Or maybe family time is most important to you? Once you figure out what drives you forward and how far ahead you want to see, then paint a vivid picture of that end goal for yourself!
