by J. Glenn Ebersole

Highly successful businesses today have developed visions for their organizations and have the vision integrated throughout the company and all that happens in the company. However, there are far too many businesses today, even some that may be considered successful, that have no clear vision and have no real plan for the future of the company. There are some people that have a great fear of strategic planning and of developing a clearly defined vision. And sometimes the fear stems from the lack of knowledge of strategic planning and/or confidence that the people and the organization can actually succeed in developing and implementing a sound strategic plan.
This fear and the lack of confidence can be minimized by following some strategic steps I have used and that my clients have used through strategic thinking business coaching. Here are ten recommended strategic steps to take in order to achieve your business vision.
1.Develop a clearly focused and defined vision statement for your business or organization. This vision statement should be a description of the image of your business that you feel very compelled to achieve.
2.Develop a clearly defined and focused mission that defines how you are going to achieve your vision. This mission statement will include the action(s) necessary to achieve your vision.
3.Identify your core values or guiding principles for your business. These are statements to define who you are and what guides you day in and day out in your business.
4.Develop a list of short term (usually less than 1 year) goals that will help you achieve your business vision.
5.Develop a list of long term (more than 1 year and usually up to 5 years) goals that will help you achieve your vision.
6.Create a strategic planning team to assist in the achievement of your business vision.
7.Commit to strengthening your personal foundation. The larger and more complex your business vision the stronger your foundation must be. This means a commitment to eliminate all sources of negative energy, distractions and anything that will be an obstacle or impediment to achieving your business vision.
8.Seek outside advice through mentoring and/or coaching to serve as a sounding board and to provide guidance and coaching on some of the tough decisions you will need to make to reach your business vision.
9.Celebrate successes along the way to achieving your business vision.
10.Share your business vision with everyone in your business or organization. Commit to integrating and implementing whatever is necessary throughout the company to reach your business vision.