Sharing the Vision: Collaboration and Companies

Creating a thriving, successful organization is not unlike raising a child.  You want your company to do well, live a long and prosperous life, and, perhaps most importantly, continue to do these things even once you are no longer around to directly oversee operations.  To do this, you have to make sure that your organization is held together with a shared vision.  Creating that shared vision, like most things, is easier said than done.  However, it’s an endeavor well worth the effort.

The Many versus the One

When running a company—whether you have come into a preexisting business or founded your own—it is easy to become lost in your own plans.  It’s important to remember, however, that the shared vision of your organization is more significant than your own individual version.  Stay involved and engaged as plans are strategized and executed but trust your team.  By creating a shared vision and getting everyone on board in regards to your organization’s goals, you can ensure that your company will become its own, functional organism that will survive any changes that come along.

Looking Ahead

The only constant in today’s world is change.  Nothing stays the same for very long.  Things may be going well and running smoothly today, but who knows what tomorrow could bring?  Embracing complacency can be tempting, but never give into it.  Prepare your organization for the future by keeping everyone involved and making sure that your company is ready to withstand whatever could be coming next.  Employees leave for other opportunities, managers move on, customers can come and go.  Stay on your toes and make sure that your organization is not becoming too reliant on any one person or expected outcome.

Fostering a Healthy Work Culture

When it comes to being a commanding leader, it’s possible to have too much of a good thing.  If your current work culture revolves entirely around your leadership, leans all of its weight upon your opinion, or is constantly kept in check by your oversight, then you have failed in creating a shared vision.  You want to create a culture that will survive well beyond your turn at the helm.  By creating an environment that orbits a shared mission, you can build a thriving and healthy company that will survive whatever tomorrow decides to throw at it.

You want your organization to prosper, and sometimes that can lead to micromanaging and becoming lost in your own personal vision for how things should go.  Instead, establish a shared vision so that your company will continue to exist without worry of personnel changes or outside influences.  This July, take a moment to evaluate your own practices in regards to your visions: is it yours and yours alone?  Or is it shared by the company as a whole?  If the first, create a shared vision held and understood by your organization as a whole.  If you want to know more about how to facilitate that discussion with your team, Leadership Delta has the tools and experience to help you discover and build buy-in on that shared vision.