Is your Vision Polarizing? Does it help decide who is in and who is out? Well, let’s talk about that today.

Good morning friends, Thomas Joyner here with Business on Purpose.

At the end of every year, we ask business owners to write a letter to their teams. They highlight things like where you’ve been, where you’re going, and how grateful they are for the team. 

One of the key pieces is always Vision for the next year. And we’ll get into the why here in just a minute.

So, a couple of weeks ago, one of my clients did just this. Spent hours writing his letter to his team. They had a great year! And are positioning themselves for another great year. So, he laid it all out… the vision for the next year. How much work they had on the books, who they were as a business, the accountability they would put in place to keep the bar high, and the reward for the team if they reach their goals.

Even his wife came home after reading it all fired up, saying that she wanted to sign up to work for the team after having the letter read to her. 

3 days later, 3 employees came in and quit. Why? Because the vision was so clear, so polarizing that they decided it wasn’t what they wanted to be a part of. They decided it wasn’t where they were heading and so they left.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself. Ouch! That stings! You put all this work in and your team up and quits on you. Should have been more vague…should have made it easier to hear and lowered the bar. Are you kidding me? Not. At. ALL!!!

The business owner called me more pumped up than I’ve heard him in over a year. I know exactly where we’re headed and our entire team is on board. This is the first time I’ve known we were all pulling the same direction in years!

He was absolutely floored… even though his team had shrunk by about 20 percent. Because he knew, that these guys would have fought him all year long and probably robbed his team of performance, profitability, and morale every day that they came to work.

That’s why we work so hard on Vision. It’s polarizing. It separates those who want to be there and those who don’t. It sets the destination and the standard and then allows people on your team to make a decision for themselves, which is a service to them even if they don’t know it!

I’ve never been more proud! Because it energized the business owner, and the rest of his team, to go out and do what they are uniquely equipped to do! That’s a powerful vision.

So, if I was to sit down and listen to your vision for your business or team. How polarizing and clear would it be?

If you were describing the destination to me, would it be something like this? “Well, we’re gonna head up to the northeast and find a town that we’re kind of excited about. We may drive fast, but it may take us another day or two to get there. That’s ok, though. At least we’ll be in the vicinity?”

No! You could arrive somewhere you don’t want to be!

But if it’s the city, the neighborhood, the street, the address, the room inside that house or building. Your team can decide if they’re on board or not!

It’s not vague in any way, but crystal clear. And here’s the beautiful thing about it. If the team comes to you halfway through the year and says, but we didn’t know this is what we were signing up for, you can hold them accountable. You can say, grab your letter I gave you in December that outlined where we’re going. I even took the time to write it down for you so you wouldn’t forget. And retrain to hold accountable.

That’s powerful! Imagine how exciting it would be to arrive at your destination a year from now. Or even to slightly miss it, but to be able to look back and say, well, we’re way closer than we would have been had we not written it down, shared it and planned for how to get there! 

That’s Vision that changes you. It’s powerful, polarizing, and transformative. And that’s the vision you want for your team. 

Anything less opens the door for chaos to creep back in and for your ceiling as a business to get lower and lower and lower. 

So take time to revisit your polarizing vision today. It’s so so worth it. Thanks! Have a great day