Organisational Performance
3
THE
2020 VISION TO THE WIRE
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ision is the destination that one visualises and wants to achieve, but the path is unknown. This is where goals come into play… setting the path for the rightful achievement of your vision, acting as milestones. – Sromona Bhattacharyya Back in who knows when, we all dreamt our big dreams and coined our big vision for year 2020. If your Vision committed you or your organisation to a specific envisioned position “by 2020”, then you should be basking at your achievements because, strictly speaking at 12:00:01 January 2020, you would have attained your vision. Our team has been doing rounds finding out who’s celebrating big and who’s not. We found quite a few who told us that year 2020 was, in fact, the target delivery year. So, we are here to work with all those as we all chase hard at bringing vision2020 to full life by 23:59:59 December 2020! As they read this, some might be feeling some dejection or trepidation about bringing their (personal/organisation’s) vision to reality. It could be because the vision suddenly seems too ambitious and unachievable. And they might console themselves with the fallacy that “visions are motivational statements and aren’t always attainable.” With that, they may give up on the urge to chase the vision. Some of our respondents say they’ve been disheartened by visions that seem no longer relevant as “events have overtaken” them. Needless to say, to be able to motivate people into pursuing a vision, you must believe in its importance, relevance and attainability. Let’s take turns reviewing the different challenging scenarios. You can pick up some strategic insights or get to revive your own creative thinking towards your vision, giving it life and selling it to the rest of the team who will bring it to reality. When the Vision is “Daunting”
If a vision seems too big, too ambitious and intimidating, it is important to embrace the sentiment behind it and identify a way that the organisation can express or live out this sentiment in a series of short-term, specific, attainable goals. Martin Luther, Jr advised wisely: You don’t have to see the entire staircase, just take the first step. For instance, if the vision was “To be the biggest recruitment agency in Africa by 2020”, this may prove a challenge. You may not see the end of the staircase, so to speak.
Confining your interpretation
Big may indicate the size of the operation. It could also mean the size or number of clients on the agency’s books. It may mean the size of billings; the number of personnel; it may mean continental representation through a spread of offices or networks; it may also mean “biggest” as recognised by industry partners or the market through a combination of achievements, such as negotiation clout, reputation or the quality of clients that it attracts. Confined targeting
In whatever aspect that management believes the organisation can prove dominance, that’s where it should focus the organisation strategy for the period remaining towards the Vision ‘deadline’. To drive this, management needs to formulate or articulate goals with clear targets, making sure that not only are there organisationwide programmes to drive towards the demonstration of dominance in the selected leadership-specific aspect, but there should be a credible and transparent way to verify the leadership claim. Credible Industry or Market Data
The organisation must be able to prove attainment of dominance in the aspect that qualifies it to be “the biggest recruitment agency in Africa in 2020”. It stands to reason that one cannot claim a superior position in a market or industry from an internal perspective. One should have sufficient information to compare themselves against the competition. A tracking process that links to undisputed data is important to back the status. Some industries cooperate and share data freely via a central bureau or institute, others have to rely on pure market intelligence, observations and deductive conclusion. With competition agencies on the watch, it would be prudent to ensure that not only can superiority claims be tested, but that any industry cooperation on figures doesn’t put the players at loggerheads with regulating authorities. When it comes to audacious visions, then, one can see that no matter how big the industry grows, the executive can always find space to live up to the vision – and prove itself “the biggest” in some significant aspect. It is a statement that constantly inspires and drives the organisation toward greatness or leadership, if not of the entire industry, it could be “the greatest” in certain important niches. OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM
