by Dr. Marilyn Manning CSP, CMC

To sell your product or service, you need vision. To attract investors, you need vision. To market yourself, you need vision. Is this article, I give you simple steps to articulate your vision.

All successful leaders have a vision for their businesses, projects or teams. In fact, you wouldn’t be a leader if you didn’t have vision, if you couldn’t see exciting possibilities not only in your product or services, but also in your people. And, yet, many leaders when asked to create a vision statement for their team tend to minimize importance of this process. They often give it lip service, so they can get back to “real work.”

An in-depth, thoughtful vision process can be a major motivator. An authentic vision comes from your soul, your team’s soul, and touches heart. A team that is emotionally moved by their vision has strength to overcome rough spots and ups and downs any business faces. When team has a clear vision for business, they are creating a picture of future. They can then work backwards, identifying priorities and what needs to be done to actualize end result.

Having facilitated many strategic planning and visioning processes for my clients, I have found following to be a blueprint for a successful visioning process. To know potential and possibilities of our organization, we have to access where we are, our strengths, our vulnerabilities, our competition and society’s trends.

STEP 1: Conduct a thorough internal and external environmental scan. a.Identify all stakeholders b.Analyze stakeholder needs and impact c.Administer a reliable employee satisfaction survey d.Conduct customer focus groups e.Identify key questions for environmental scan f.Seek input from stakeholder representatives g.Consider using an organizational assessment consultant

Although many teams, projects, and even divisions of companies are not required to develop vision statements, they can be helpful in creating identity and aligning priorities. A vision is a picture of future we seek to create, described in present tense, as if it were happening now. It shows where we want to go in next few years, and what we will be like when we get there. The word comes from Latin “videre,” to see.

Criteria to consider in writing a vision statement include: strategic focus and market place competitive advantage, adding value, building on current strengths, and embracing organizational values. Vision should provide driving force. It should be clear, specific and simple. Everyone in organization should be able to speak it, feel it, act on it, and integrate it.

Examples of some of my clients’ vision statements developed in our strategic planning:

“To be leader in providing high quality communication support services by exceeding our customers’ service expectations.” Lotus division cc:Mail

“California State University, San Bernardino will become one of leading comprehensive universities in nation, distinctive for its contributions to understanding of learning and for innovative partnerships promoting educational, social, economic and cultural advancement in region.”

“We are an educational institution with resources to provide our distinct services to community at large.” Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo

“We envision Cupertino Educational Endowment Foundation as a leader in entreprenurial philosophy, leveraging its human and fiscal resources in partnership with others to enhance quality of education in our community."

“We will strive to insure that City of Gilroy is a safe, clean, prosperous, well governed city, in which citizens are involved in decision making process.”

Jason is a division manager at a large manufacturing plant. He has a reputation for being very loyal to company, hard working, bright, and dedicated to building customer loyalty. Due to his stellar performance record, none of his supervisors have ever mentioned his “flaw.” He is unable to express his anger, frustration, and impatience with his staff in appropriate ways. A simple request can be met with: “You figure it out. I have eight other things to tend to,” Or, “Why do you care if I handled your customer myself….I took care of it. That’s all that matters.” Or, “I already showed you that procedure. Weren’t you listening?”

Michael is a top executive in a high tech company. He is an extraordinary achiever. He has landed many contracts, headed up innumerable successful projects, and has been a key contributor overall. His whole identity is with job. His normal workday starts at 8am and ends between 9 or 10pm. On Saturdays and Sundays he puts in 4-5 hours to “catch up.” His behavior is generally positive, albeit bossy, during day, but if someone catches him at work after 6pm, he is known to snap at them, be sarcastic, and on occasion, even yell. He doesn’t handle his anger or frustration appropriately.

Mina is a super star in her sales department. She was recruited from a competitor for her years of experience and her superior expertise. Her new boss didn’t realize when hiring her that she is very self-centered, arrogant, and suffers from an inflated ego. In meetings, she puts down others’ ideas as “stupid,” she finds questions inconvenient, and she continually criticizes company. Her condescending attitude has become a major issue for her supervisor.

Through ages, we have tried to understand, control and appropriately express our anger and frustrations. Anger is a very powerful emotion that can be misused when not controlled, but can also be useful when strategically aimed to make a point. What follows are some guidelines on how we can use anger properly and how we can coach others to do same.

Anger feels justified. Anger or frustration is a natural response to certain stimuli. When we feel wronged, when our feelings are hurt, when we are disappointed, when we witness someone else being mistreated, when we are not being listened to, or when we keep experiencing a repeated mistake or breakdown, we can get angry or frustrated.

Each of us learned different ways to express our anger. Some totally suppress it, others show it in facial expressions, some sigh, others raise their voice or make a fist, some stomp their feet, some cry, and others complain incessantly. Most of us let anger control our reactions. In a few easy steps, and with some disciplined practice, you can learn to control anger.

Take a moment to cool off before doing anything. It’s key to notice immediately when you are starting to feel frustrated, impatient or angry. At first inkling of impatience, take a few deep breaths and focus on something else.

Change pattern. Do whatever you can to change situation. Get out of line of fire. Leave area for a few minutes, if possible. Change subject. Move physically. Take a short time out.