602: What is a team vision day and how do we make it work?

If I were to walk into your office this week, pick an employee at random and ask them where you’re headed as a business over the next year or so, would they be able to answer correctly? I’d wager they may be able to nail a few small things, but would probably fall short of where you’d like them to be. So how do we communicate those things and effectively put the bullseye on the wall for the whole team to chase after? Well, it starts with a team vision day. Let’s talk about it! Thanks so much for listening in today, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here. About a year ago we sent out an employee survey to all of our clients. Just told them to forward it on to their employees, because we were curious how many of them could answer this question. “What’s the goal of our business?” And many similar questions like that. Just give them a chance to answer and see what came up. Now, it was fascinating to read the responses. Things like, to make the most profit we can, or to build perfect houses or even to make sure our customers are happy. And yet, there was something missing in most of the responses. Well, a lot of things missing, actually. Things like how big do we want to be and who our ideal client is. Things like what we want the culture to feel like and how much business we want to take on. The size of the team. The gross revenue. The ways we want our clients to feel when they do business with us. All of that. And so how do we take those things, write them down and communicate it to the team effectively so that they hear it and take notice?  Hear me say this… don’t overcomplicate it! Have a Vision day, or in our opinion, multiple Vision days throughout the year. We have 6, yep that’s right, 6 Vision days over the course of the year. Hour-long meetings where we do nothing but read through the vision of where we’re headed and who we want to be while headed there. The other day I sat down with a client and he brought up prepping for their quarterly team meeting where they read through their vision story. I was so proud and he went on and on about how much it’s changed their business. They commit to reading through it once a quarter so that their team is never confused about what’s important. They see the core values and how it connects with end goals. They can recite the mission and know their why. It’s such a powerful way to engage their team and connect the dots so that no one every has to guess at where the endzone is. They know it because it’s constantly in front of them multiple times a year.  So, how do you start? Well, the vision needs to be written down. One of our favorite quotes comes from the book of Habbakuk in the bible. “Write the vision down so that those who read it may run!” That’s what you want your team to do, see the vision, and have it read over them so that they can run full speed after it! What a powerful picture! Then schedule a date to start it. Don’t overcomplicate it. Just read through it and let your team ask questions along the way. Then, after the first time reading through it ask this simple question…”So, after hearing our vision, are there any questions about where we’re headed?” If yes, answer them! They are super important.  If the answer is no, ask this. “After the first time reading through our vision, what would you say is important to us?” This is crucial in them retelling you where you are headed and how you want to do business moving forward. You have to know what they heard you say and make sure it sunk in! And if they missed the mark, rework your vision until it communicates what you want it to towards your team. That’s vision that moves people forward! Schedule a few more times throughout the year. You want your team knowing what you are going to say before you say it. That’s when you know the vision has truly sunk in. Alright, what are you waiting for…put pen to paper and write it down so your team can run after it. Then put it on the calendar and get the entire team there and engaged! Then let us know how it went. Thanks for joining today I can’t wait to hear about your Vision day!