Breaking Visions Into Steps
Ask any manager what they want for their business: The exact answer may vary, but at the heart of their vision for the future is a successful, stable and reliable business — one that pulls in the profits and builds a devoted clientele. Dreaming big is essential for a manager, but you can’t get from where your business is to where you hope your business will be without breaking you greater goals into smaller, accomplishable steps.
Your Business Plan
Writing a business plan gives you something to consult, to tweak when it’s not working, and something you can use to track your progress. An effective business plan will:
- Start with your overall, general business vision. For example, “Achieve record profits next year.”
- Break that vision into smaller business goals. These will collectively help you achieve that vision, such as “Offer a new, innovative product” or “Unleash a hard-hitting marketing campaign to get a leg up on the competition.”
- Highlight which teams and/or employees will be involved in each goal. For example, the research and development team for the new product or the marketing team for the new campaign.
- Provide some ideas for accomplishing each goal. Ideas can be things like “Research a need in the market” or “Focus on social media.”
- Leave a little wiggle room. Let the people you manage do their jobs. As Ian Wilson, principal of Wolf Enterprises, explains, management is not the same thing as leadership; you can’t do everything for everyone and expect them to simply follow your lead.
Leading vs. Managing
As you’ll notice when you break your business vision into smaller goals and then even smaller steps necessary to accomplish those goals, it takes a lot of people to run your business — everyone in the business has a role to play. Rather than dictating your own ideas for how each team should accomplish their goals, share your ideas and then ask for feedback. Let each team or employee present their own ideas for accomplishing their tasks, and trust them to know their specialization well enough to come up with the most effective solution. As a manager, you’re a leader, but more than that, you’re a person who manages others, letting them use their skills and experiences to do what they do best.
Make Sure Enthusiasm Is There
President of Tequila Avión Jenna Fagnan explains that to make your vision a reality, you not only have to be able to communicate your ideas effectively, but you must also make sure everyone believes in your vision. An effective manager can’t simply tell the employees about a vision and hope they all feel the same; the manager also has to get everyone in the company enthused about their vision.Here are some of the best ways to get your employees on board.
- Explain how accomplishing your vision affects them.As business grows, so will income, which will lead to greater salaries and promotions for employees.
- Offer incentives for certain accomplishments along the way. Incentives may include individual commendation, raises, friendly company-wide competitions, parties and better parking spots.
- Give feedback at every step of the way. Applaud your employees’ successes. At the same time, don’t hesitate to rationally and patiently approach them when there’s something that needs improvement.
The more you study effective communication skills and the more you practice them, the more your business is likely to accomplish. Every manager can envision their business doing even better, but only the most committed managers can make that happen. Your employees are essential to accomplishing your business goals, so take the first step toward turning your vision into reality by getting your employees motivated to work toward a common goal.
About the Author: Bernice Marshall is a contributing writer who manages a Fortune 500 company.