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Re: Bringing Life to Vision

“Hey, you’ve got that backwards!” Looking at the tag line on our emails, people say this. Here’s how we look at it.

Leaders of businesses ready for Stage 2 already have a vision. They are just wildly frustrated because they are not realizing it. What we are up to is:

• Crystallizing that vision so that it is clear and attainable
• Sparking the top leadership to push it to accomplishment
• Realistically planning with him/ her to overcome the frustrations standing in the way
• Involving the executive to communicate and build buy in to the next version of the company
• Creating a “hot” culture that gets beyond niceness to the realities of performance without demeaning anyone
• Resourcing and Intervening in real time to equip the organization and push the points home
• Creating a discipline and a track record of momentum and accomplishment

So how does this amount to bringing life to vision?

Stage 2 companies have already experienced significant success. They are well past the electricity of the launching. The business then was powered by the strength of the leader, a strong concept and some brutal hard work by committed people to get it off the ground. Now they’re at the top of that curve. You can’t define stage 2 readiness by head count or revenue although both are well past the Mom and Pop scale.

Stage 2 readiness is defined by reach and ambition of the head honcho. A stage 1 President may achieve a plateau and be perfectly content to enjoy a good lifestyle and play it out. A Stage 2 President is not. Stage 2 Presidents want to take the ship to another level, to see how far it can go. They’re not in it for survival, they’re in it for growth, wealth and the raw exercise of entrepreneurialism. Now, they are trying to light the second stage of the rocket – to really lift it up into orbit.

The Stage 2 President’s dilemma is not soluable by “working harder” or better technical work. More of the same kind of effort produces diminishing returns. What is needed? Different influences with new inputs to deal effectively with the challenges of operating at higher altitudes. Time to vitalize!

Task 1: Get That Fire Back!

Getting the leader back onside with the vision that hooked them in the first place has to be the starting point. Somewhere in the detail and complication of running a substantial business, the drivers, the “why” and “for what” and the aims– from a personal perspective may have gotten a little lost in the shuffle. So much is done to feed the machine, to look after staff, to qualify for new levels of business, just to keep going starts to eat up all the time and energy. There’s no life left over to chase a star.

It’s not just a company; any organization can get a little stale – repetitive and circular. Or maybe you were commissioned to breathe life into an out-of-shape and outdated vehicle.

The connection to the source of energy must be reopened and then the aim redefined. When the dream was dreamed, you may have been younger and had less experience. Now, you know more and the dream must be brought current. Otherwise, by holding onto an outdated fantasy, you may actually be keeping it sterile and distant. Making it real means it can now be potent. While doing that, the spark comes back, grounded in a present and actual context.

Task 2: Acknowledge and Deal with the Real Challenge

Companies get so caught up serving the passengers in the back; they don’t drive to the destination the same way. Heck, they don’t look at the map or out the cockpit window that much! Every one is busy and no one has time to build for the future. This way to a dead end! To get here you’ve climbed through one S-curve. The hard news? You’re at the bottom of another.
It slopes up high at first, then gets easier later.

Reaching beyond conventional markets, getting your people past the status quo, involving them in the challenge, enrolling them in change, committing to growth – these become central. The head person takes on the personal discomfort of new roles and practices – exciting novelties you’ve read about but never practiced - create new anxiety and new satisfaction. A new and ultimately more exciting life lures the commanders away from “security” and the comforts of the routine. Now the reviving entity is beginning to breathe hard – with exertion – again. This is a company that can pilot for the future.

Task 3: Build the “hot” culture

Put a bunch of people together and they’ll avoid conflict like the plague! Living organisms are bumptious!

We’ve lately been working with The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni and the very helpful Accountability Agreements book by Calgarians Klatt et. al.. They provide tools for cultures that give, receive and act on real news – fast: the ones that prevail now. When there’s too much pussyfooting or politics, fear or excessive “niceness”, the works get all gummed up, the wheel won’t turn. In live companies people are direct, enjoy the benefits of good conflict, push each other to perform and deal with matters as they arise on the basis of real – not sanitized – feedback. And they are highly bonded, respectful and enjoy each other immensely. Sound impossible? Not only is it possible, it’s required for the speed of today’s business.
Outside intervention is a must, to help individuals adjust in their own way to full contact life and to stay with groups so they plan and track strongly.

I’ve been in some companies where the first semi-straight news a “problem” employee got was “We have to let you go…” In the later (successful) unjust dismissal suit, it turns out no one had ever told them they weren’t doing right. There were no willing bearers of “bad” news. I’ve also heard of great people leaving for the same reason – no feedback.

Task 4: Enjoying Momentum and a Track Record of Accomplishment

When the coffee starts to perk, work becomes real fun. The engine must continue to fire and the new progress remarked upon but not justify laying back. A discipline of planning and achieving, planning and achieving begins to set this living company apart from many others. Such an enterprise commands attention and resources unavailable previously. People show up who want to work there. New customers need you. Investors and competition start sniffing around. Your company is fit and vital. It’s pretty heady – stay the course!

If you’re ready for Stage 2, let yourself get stirred up! Fall is the perfect time to move on that energy. And, we at Catalyst Strategic Consultants would love to help you bring that vision alive.

Have a look at “Take my company to the next level”

Doug Bouey

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