Why Your Business Needs A People Vision

What’s Your People Vision?

A clear vision for your people and the culture they work in is vital for successful businesses today.   In this article, I want to explain

• what’s at stake for your business without a defined people vision
• how a clear vision for your culture can supercharge your company
• 10 questions that can help you easily create the right vision

You might have heard the saying, “where there is no vision, the people perish.” That’s because, without a vision for how you want the people in your organization to work together, you are setting yourself up for a possible disaster.  

The Wrong Culture Could Derail Your Company

You may remember the incident caught on video where a 69-year-old doctor, flying home to see patients, was violently dragged off an airplane for not giving up the seat he purchased. He received a concussion, broken nose and lost several teeth because he was ripped from his chair and drug down the aisle of the plane. No one on the flight crew that day did anything about it, and the CEO ended up having to make a national apology to try and clean up the mess. 

I can’t imagine the CEO would have intentionally created a culture where situations were handled like that by his staff. But, it seems their culture didn’t encourage employees to protect their customers and, in turn, cost the well-known airline, a significant blow to their reputation and stock price.  

The airline has now changed its policies, so things like that don’t happen again, but can you imagine how things might have been different if there had been a clear vision for the way their people handled various situations on the front end?

A Great Culture Could Take Your Business To The Next Level

Contrast that with my many experiences flying with Southwest Airlines. They’ve created a culture that empowers their people to bring their best and give customers an incredible experience. The difference you feel between the two airlines is tangible. It’s not because Southwest has any better planes or technology. It’s that they have a better culture, and not only do the employees enjoy it, but so do the customers who keep coming back.

Why Vision Matters

Whether intentional or not, your culture looks and feels like something.  It has its own set of unwritten and possibly written rules. Your culture could embrace negativity, gossip, favoritism, laziness, low accountability, disrespect, or in extreme cases, lying, cheating, stealing, or not standing up for what is right. The list goes on and on.

If you don’t have a vision for what you want your culture to look like, it will become a hodgepodge of the people in it. And that may or may not turn out how you would like. If the wrong people begin to influence your culture according to their vision and not yours, you could have a mess on your hands that takes lots of time and energy to turn around. 

What Could A Clear Vision Do For Your Culture?

With a clear vision, you could create a thriving culture that people love to be a part of. It could be one that they tell their friends about. One where great employees at competing firms want to come to work. In short, a thriving culture could be one of your secret weapons and most critical competitive advantages. And it all starts with vision.

Your First Step

Vision is all about, first, knowing where you want to go. Next, once you know what you’re aiming at, you can put your efforts toward hitting the target. But, as all good leaders know…

If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. -Zig Ziglar Click To Tweet

10 Questions To Create And Activate Your People Vision

1. How do I want my people to treat each other?
2. How do I want my people to respond to internal and external challenges?
3. How do I want my people to deal with change?
4. How do I want my people to respond to disappointment? 
5. How do I want my people to treat our customers? 
6. What do I want my customers to tell others about their experience with my people?
7. Do I (as a leader) model the culture I want to see?
8. How can I regularly communicate the vision of my ideal culture to my people? 
9. What activities could we participate in to reinforce the culture?
10. What challenges could we face trying to implement such a vision?

Next Steps

Once you have answered these questions, I would encourage you to

• Write out your vision for your ideal culture
• Create a communication plan so that everyone on your team or in your organization understands it
• Continue to communicate and reinforce the vision until it becomes a reality.  

Conclusion

It’s vital to craft a clear vision for how you want your people to interact and respond to all of the challenges and victories they will face.  Without one, you could end up with some significant problems on your hand as you leave your culture to chance.

On the other hand, if you can clearly define what you want your culture to look like and are intentional about developing it, you could create the ideal environment for your people to thrive and help take your company to the next level.  

What’s One Thing You Think Is Critical To Have In A Business Culture?

I’d love to hear what ideas you have, so leave a comment and let us know.

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Thanks for reading,

Charles

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P.S. If you want to learn how to create a People Smart Culture that is designed to bring out the best in your people, you can download the FREE People Smart Activation Guide™ by clicking here. In this guide, you’ll get over 20 specific recommendations we provide our clients to help them strengthen their culture and maximize their people.

I’m Charles Kown. I love helping leaders accomplish their goals, become their best, and create thriving, productive teams.