{"id":4351,"date":"2019-07-11T14:01:55","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T21:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knowyourteam.com\/blog\/?p=4351"},"modified":"2024-08-08T14:19:08","modified_gmt":"2024-08-08T21:19:08","slug":"how-to-share-company-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/2019\/07\/11\/how-to-share-company-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"How to share your company vision as a leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Company<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The #1 piece of information you should be focused on as a leader is sharing company vision. Here’s exactly how to do it.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCompany vision\u201d might be the fluffiest business term I know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thrown around by every nearly business book and article, \u201cvision\u201d is often used vaguely, without nuance or thoughtfulness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet despite its watered-down usage, \u201cvision\u201d is the most important information for us to communicate across a team. According to a survey we conducted with 355 people in the fall of 2018, vision was ranked as the #1 information people need to share in a team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given its significance, how to best share a company vision within a team?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we can answer that, we must start with what company vision exactly is and why it\u2019s important. Then, we can dive into how you can make sure it\u2019s shared across the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all: What is company vision?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A vision is a picture of a better place<\/a>. You see this picture in your head: It\u2019s what you want the world to look like because your product or team exists. In many ways, your team\u2019s vision is your opinion on how you think the world ought to be. A vision answers the question, \u201cWhat world do you want to create?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vision is often misconstrued with other business-y terms, like \u201cmission,\u201d \u201cpurpose,\u201d and \u201cvalues.\u201d But a vision is different from any of those things. For example, the company vision of Canopy<\/a> is NOT \u201csoftware that helps managers become better.\u201d Nor is our vision to be \u201cinnovative\u201d or \u201cauthentic.\u201d Rather, our vision is \u201ca world where managers and employees work well together, make progress, and communicate openly and honestly with one another.\u201d It\u2019s a place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See the difference?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A vision is what you want to create (remember, it\u2019s a place!). The mission of your team is why you want to get to that vision. Your team\u2019s values are how you want to get to that vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does sharing a vision matter?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sharing your company vision is important for four reasons: (1) it clarifies decisions (2) it decentralizes decisions (3) it makes decisions easier and (4) it can be the greatest source of motivation for your team. Let me explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarifies decisions.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In our online leadership community, many members strongly emphasized the importance of sharing vision as the ultimate tool for decision making. One manager explained, \u201cWhen the vision is clear, you give your team something explicitly to point to in decision making.\u201d The vision is the compass that all decisions are oriented around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decentralizes decisions.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When the vision is shared across the team, each team member can have greater autonomy. Your team now has a shared destination on the map, so your manager doesn\u2019t need to be ordering a series of coordinates instructing everyone how to get there. No more micromanaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One member, a CEO, discussed how he shares the vision with his team deliberately with this in mind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cMy goal with this is to transfer the ability to make decisions to every person. If we are clear about why we do what we do, our [vision] becomes a filters through which any employee can make decisions that align with who we are and what we\u2019re about. But all of this is predicated on us as leaders regularly sharing this stuff.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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It makes decisions easier.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A shared vision also helps a team make decisions amidst disagreement. When people argue over how to grow the sales or whether to pursue a project, this shared vision is a uniting force that can override seemingly irreconcilable differences in opinion. It can also give your coworkers the courage to speak up and offer dissenting opinions since they know what the ultimate vision of the team is that they\u2019re trying to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The greatest motivator for your team.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When shared, a company vision is the most powerful way to motivate a group of people. It gives your team a common place to strive for. When each person clearly sees that same picture of a better place in their own minds\u2019 eye, each person connects to it and feels that pull of motivation to want to create that place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are three recommendations you can put into practice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#1: Over-communicate vision at all-team meetings<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The most common way cited by our survey respondents to share company vision was to utilize team meetings (57% of people do this). All-team or all-company meetings<\/a> are an ideal opportunity to have this discussion: Everyone is present (most of the time, at least!) and you\u2019re carving out time to talk about broader team and company issues. Twenty-nine percent of people said that their teams hold these meetings once a month, while 28% of them do them once a quarter. Regardless of the frequency, the most important thing is that you hold some sort of regular all-staff meeting and that you make a discussion of vision a part of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, at these meetings, how should be talking about your team\u2019s vision? In our community, managers offered these suggestions for what can be talked about, as related to vision:<\/p>\n\n\n\n