Category: Vision

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Business Vision

Part 3 Envisioned Future….

Part 3 Envisioned Future….

It is something which can be set for the future and once achieved there can be another goal for the future that can be set. Purpose is something you cannot achieve because it is something you can only dream but goals can be achieved, and they change once the 1st goal gets achieved.

Goals need to be big, audacious, and hairy commonly known as BHAGS or Bee HAGs. The goals need to be creatively visualised. I was once coaching a client on what she wished to achieve in her career. She provided me with a lot of examples however when I asked her can you see yourself achieving these, she asked me what do you mean? I asked her to carry out a small exercise. I told her that whenever it was possible to imagine herself already having achieved those goals and, in that place, and situation and get habituated to that. She carried out her task religiously. Each time we would meet for a session I would ask her did you imagine yourself in the future as what you wish to be and where you wish to be, and she would provide me an affirmation. Our sessions got over after some time.

I met her recently and she proudly told me that she was currently where she wanted to be. It had taken her six years, but she mentioned it was worth it. I asked her again now what else do you wish to achieve, and she had her list ready. Those many years back when I had asked her whether after she achieves what she wanted to do what will be her next goal she had provided me a blank look stating that’s it what else should be there. That is when I had asked her to think as an exercise whether she would want to stop after achieving what she wanted or had something else in mind to achieve and ponder over that.

When we met for our session next, she had another list of goals which she had listed out and which she would achieve after the set of goals from her first list would get accomplished.

The goals not only have to be endless, but they must be scary enough for an individual to ponder over whether he/she will be able to achieve them. They must appear unachievable. Here I am reminded of the movie ‘Independence Day’. In the movie when the male protagonist tells his accomplice who would accompany him on the mission that they need to take the alien spaceship inside the mother ship of the aliens which was in space and upload a virus into it. This will entail in all the child spaceships into the earth’s stratosphere to be pulled down. His accomplice asks him a question ‘do you think you can achieve that bullshit that you just told me about?’. Yes, indeed the goals need to appear as something out of this world, completely unachievable for them to be only imagined but to be worked upon.  

A lot of organizations draft their vision, their goals that they wish to achieve but fail to imagine all about it. They fail to imagine it. This leads to them not being able to achieve them. 

References:

Collins J.C. & Porras J.I. “Building your company’s vision”, On Strategy, Harvard Business Review

Categories
Business Vision

Envisioning your Future – Part 2

Part 2 Core Ideology….

What is it? It combines value and purpose. It cannot be confused with core competency. It guides and inspires. It is required to be lived with authenticity, discipline, and consistency.

Phew! In a nutshell it does mean many things.

Breaking down these many things one by one thus an explanation can be definitely provided for each one of them. So here goes….

It combines value and purpose….

Indeed. In the preceding part 1 value and purpose have been well illustrated. Continuing with the example of the teacher provided in part 1 “the teacher gets down to the level of the students while imparting knowledge”. If we perceive this statement carefully the value and the purpose which the teacher believes in is embedded in the statement.

The teacher being my client she was able to conceive and identify her value and purpose in the due course of the coaching sessions with her. She figured out her value was to expand her possibilities for the students and her purpose was to bring about a change in the life of her students. Thus, her core ideology was being guided by her purpose and value. She does not consider her competitors which would be other teachers in the school that she is professionally engaged with while comprehending her value and purpose. They are what she believes in and adheres to.

Here I am jumping to the last statement…

It is required to be lived with authenticity, discipline, and consistency…

The teacher does live with her ideology with authenticity, discipline and consistency since she has perennially ensured that she puts in additional efforts, thus expanding her possibilities to make the students comprehend the given topic. Hence here the teacher is authentic in her efforts because from within her heart she wants the students to comprehend what she teaches so that they can use it all through their life. She follows a discipline which is portrayed in case of each topic and is not limited to one topic alone. And finally she is consistent with her efforts thus adding discipline and authenticity to them.

Then I move onto the statement before the last one….

It guides and inspires…

In the teacher’s case her value and purpose guide her and inspire her consistently in taking the efforts that she does as described above in the explanation to the last statement. It can also be stated that her passion which is the value and the purpose that she lives, gets reflected through the efforts that she takes.    

And finally…

It cannot be confused with core competency…

The teacher’s core competency are the efforts that she takes to adhere to her core ideology. Her efforts are the variety of strategies that she adopts to consistently follow her ideals her core ideology. Core competency can change from time to time as per the demand of the situation. However, core ideology remains as is. It never changes.

Hence having a complete comprehension of the essence of core value and core purpose is important to know core ideology. This also means that core ideology never changes unlike core competencies which can change. The efforts the teacher takes may never ever get repeated or they may repeat time and again but her core ideology will remain static.

The moral is anything that changes cannot be core ideology….

Part 3 delves on Envisioned Future….

References: Collins J.C. & Porras J.I. “Building your company’s vision”, On Strategy, Harvard Business Review

Categories
Business Future Vision

Envisioning your Future – Part 1

“A well-conceived vision consists of two major components: core ideology and envisioned future” (Collins & Porras., 1996). Speaking of vision for the future or future vision as can be comprehended is a target which anyone wishes to achieve irrespective of an individual or organizational leaders seeking it.

At an individual level numerous examples could be provided akin to leaders at an organizational level. However, trying to provide an example at an individual level it can be narrated as under:

Naresh is a student pursuing a professional course in accounting from a reputed institute in his country. However, he has confusion about the vision he has outlined for his future. He seeks professional help from a coach who asks him to carry out a self-analysis test which consist of a list of questions. The results of the test highlight grey areas where some work is required on his part.  

The above example is about an individual. However, business organizations need to try and identify their vision for the future thus indulging in a process of critical thinking and analysing their core ideology.  

Core purpose and core value are embedded in core ideology. To draw clarity on the process of determining the organizational ideology the following example would serve the purpose.   

In my career as a coach my path crossed with a gentleman who had hired me as a strategy coach for his existing business. During the coaching process I asked him a question on the ‘Core Value’ of his organization. He was utterly confused and provided me with a blank expression. To provide him further clarity on the crucial part of my question I moved the focus from his business to his personal life and queried him to highlight on the part of his character/personality trait in his personal life which he would never compromise upon irrespective of it rendering him negative results.

He thought for a while. After a few moments his eyes lit with a sparkle. He narrated mentioning that when he and his spouse visit their relations, they ensure taking all the necessary preventions to not trouble their hosts, in any way. In the process, on several occasions he has experienced a monetary loss, yet they as a couple have adhered strictly to their policy of not causing disturbance of any sorts to their hosts, thus leaving it uncompromised.

My next question to him focussed upon his policy in his personal life being close to his heart and mind. He answered in the affirmative. I asked him to provide a thought to a policy adopted for his business which he would leave uncompromised, irrespective of the results it would derive. His eyes lit up again and he answered the question ‘the business core value’.  

‘Core Purpose’ never changes. It is static all through for individuals and organizations. It is akin to the light at the end of a dark tunnel which remains as is. It is there guiding a seeker towards it but can never be achieved. Efforts are taken by the seeker to gain proximity and reduce the distance in the trajectory from the point where the seeker is to reach their purpose. Efforts taken by an organization, or an individual are the strategies to try and achieve as much nearness to the purpose as they can.

For example, ‘To touch the soul of people’ is the core purpose of a café. To achieve it they try to provide delicacies, and gain quality in their culinary skills.

In my experience, I have encountered organizations that have their thoughts mixed up on their core purpose. They mistake the operational strategies that they devise regularly as their core purpose which it is not. For a teacher his /her core purpose would be to touch the lives of their students through their teachings. Enhancing the quality of the methods applied while teaching a topic under a subject cannot be termed as the core purpose. It turns out to be a strategy, a hypothetical method which the teacher devises to ensure addition of value in the life of their students who would be the recipients of such teaching. The result of the hypothetical methodology adopted would turn out to be favourable or unfavourable.

‘Core Value’ plus ‘Core Purpose’ gives rise to ‘Core Ideology’. The teacher’s example can be provided here by thus stating that their core value would be ‘to ensure they are backed up with solid data on the topic under discussion with their students’ or ‘they get down to their level while imparting the knowledge that they share’ with them.

Hence their core ideology would be to have a data backup on the topic under discussion to create a value addition in the lives of their students.   More on ‘Core Ideology’ in the forthcoming Part 2

References:

Collins J.C. & Porras J.I. “Building your company’s vision”, On Strategy, Harvard Business Review