engaged team

 

In a business, it is critical to know where you are headed.  A vision and mission lays this out and not only creates a plan for the future, but helps to ensure the whole team is working together toward a common goal.

Identify Your Vision and Mission

With good leadership, vision and mission are close friends. They are not like distant relatives, where you may pay a visit to see how they are doing once a year. Ask a leader who has great leadership skills and abilities the following questions and they will be able to answer them without hesitation.

  • What is the vision and mission of the company?
  • What progress have you made toward the mission and vision?
  • How is the vision and mission being communicated to the team on a regular basis?
  • What processes do you have in place to monitor progress?
  • Can your team clearly articulate the mission and vision of your company?
  • Can your team clearly articulate their specific role within this?

The above are strategic questions that demands an answer of those in a leadership role.

Define Leadership

Leadership can be described as the following:

Leadership is the ability to lead others to places they could not have gone without you.

A leader needs to have clarity of their vision and mission if they are to lead others effectively. Leaders need their team, and the team needs their leader. Leadership by autopilot simply does not work. It needs real commitment, passion, and determination. It is far easier to be committed with passion and determination to a clear goal and purpose. Who wants to follow a leader who does not know where they are going?

Clear Vision, Clear Communication

Leadership Vision Mission

Clear vision communicates an important message to the team as well as its customers. This impacts the whole DNA of the company as it sets out clear boundaries and goals.  The culture around you makes an impact on your vision, however creating a clear vision can have a profound impact on how the culture responds around it.

On a scale of one to 10, (with 1 being not good at all and 10 being excellent), how would you rate yourself and your team to the following?

  • Is the leadership team very clear on the vision and mission of the company?
  • Is the whole team caught up in the vision and mission of the company?

When it comes to vision and mission, often the breakdown – or lack of buy-in – can be whittled down to communication.  Good communication goes well beyond simply spelling out a vision and mission statement.  Merely naming it and framing it is not good enough. Vision and mission must be communicated well.

What Value Do You Bring To Your Company?

Good communication comes through truly valuing every team member and their impact on exemplifying the vision and mission of the company.  When you empower your team and affirm their value  as individuals, it increases team engagement.  An engaged team makes the dream possible.  

So, let me leave you with a few questions to consider:

  • What will you do now to show yourself as a leader who knows the way?
  • What will you do now to display and communicate the importance of every team member and the value they bring to the vision and mission of the company?

So, do you know where you are going, and is your team coming along with you?