Shared vision and approach create a foundation for support

This blog is part of the 9 growth principles of Route ICR

Each week in our blog, we focus on the 9 tips that strengthen teamintuition in your business.

Today's tip 3: "A team only starts moving when vision & support come together: the power of repetition ensures that people truly grasp the vision, that they make it their own, and then support is created."

From the vision, we deduce which strategy we will follow to achieve our goals. Without a vision, a company is completely directionless. Would you start moving if you don’t even know where to? It’s almost certain that a lot of time, energy, and money is wasted in a company without a vision.

Yet, many entrepreneurs underestimate the development of a vision. Odd, because for an entrepreneur, it precisely tells what their long-term perspective of their company is. At the same time, it also reveals the principles from which their company operates.

By sharing our vision, we make clear where we want to go. For instance, Philips aims to make the world around us healthier and more sustainable through innovations. The goal here is to have improved the lives of three billion people by 2025. A powerful vision is developed especially in interaction with the people around you in whom you have a lot of trust. By sharing your vision as a story, it comes to life for other people. And as soon as others start repeating your story, the support grows. And that’s exactly what you want to achieve. Because only when vision and support come together, can you get a team moving.

Leadership begins with a crystal-clear entrepreneurial ambition

From an entrepreneur, you can expect that he, as a leader, provides a vision. Especially when you know that leadership is only effective if your employees anticipate the intentions of the leader and act accordingly. Therefore, the way of thinking and acting should take place as much as possible from the same vision. A shared vision is therefore an indispensable step towards targeted focus in your company.

In practice, some entrepreneurs may put a vision on paper. But then nothing happens. And that is wasted energy! Because a good vision must grow and cannot be just jotted down in passing. The intention is that as a team, you work together on a vision and approach in a continuous process. A vision must be alive! Attention to it ensures that team members internalize the vision and act on it.

A shared, supported vision is the dual entity that gets team members moving and thinking forward in the same way about the approach to be taken. This way, everyone is at every moment in the prime state to take over the ‘relay baton of responsibility.’ If you translate this to an entire company, you achieve tremendous time savings and a lead over your competition!

Question: How vivid is the vision of your company?