How your vision and mission will lead you to freedom

By Sue Price

Is your business giving you the life you want? Is your team happy, productive, innovative and enthusiastic?

Your business should provide you with freedom, but unfortunately for many business owners their business feels more like a prison.

Whether we look at small businesses or large corporations, we typically see the same problems. People work long hours, under stressful conditions, facing burnout in an environment of drama and crisis. There is generally a lack of common purpose.

Many organisations recognise they must make changes. Attempts to do this, however, are typically 'band-aid' approaches. A brainstorming session, a weekend retreat or a one-off team building activity is not enough. The solution must be complete and ongoing.

Building a business which provides freedom for you

The first step for any business desiring success is to have a 'Vision'. A Vision is what the company wants to achieve; it must be measurable and have a point of completion. An example for a retailer in homeware may be, "To open and operate 20 retail shops across Australia by December 2001. To be recognised by the general public as the Number 1 shop to purchase homeware products." Once the business leaders are clear about their Vision the team must then be aligned to it.

There must also be a company 'Mission', the passion and strategies that will drive the company's success. A Mission says how the company will reach the Vision. It is measurable by the customer and is ongoing, even after the Vision has been attained. An example of a mission may be, "We will give outstanding customer service in a friendly and happy environment. We commit to operating with Integrity and Honesty within our team and with our customers."

Creating a High Performance Team

Once we have a Vision, a Mission and a team that is aligned to these, the next objective should be to develop a High Performance Team - a team that is innovative and happy, enjoys learning and is productive.

The Olympic Games brings High Performance into the spotlight, both in individuals and in teams. We understand with a sporting team there must be consistent work in building that team. Each team member must firstly understand the rules of the game, know the plan and the tactics. They must also know the part they play. As part of that team they must focus on being the best they can individually but always put the team as a whole before any self-interest. There is consistent and never-ending work involved in making a good sporting team.

The ingredients that make a High Performance Team are the same in business as they are in sport, however, business leaders often opt for a quick fix to problems. A weekend retreat or a motivational training session is expected to get lasting results. This is a little like a basketball team training once and thinking they will win gold. We would laugh at the absurdity of this approach. Yet why is it we do not recognise that a business needs the same diligent work as a sporting team?

We must take the same overall consistent approach to our business team as we do to a sporting team.

Know the rules

In business, just as in sport, it is fundamental to know the rules - the guidelines to which all team members agree to play by. Each team member must know his or her role, what part they play in achieving the overall vision. There must be performance agreements which clarify individual roles and expectations leading to a synergistic and enjoyable work environment.

Further to that, how absurd would we think it was if the coach of a sporting team was playing in the team? In the past, captain-coaches were used in Australian sport, but the concept was abandoned as it was considered counterproductive. Yet in business we so often see the leaders in there doing all the work. The leaders must free themselves up to 'work on the business, rather than in it'.

A business must build a focussed and self-learning work team that shares ideas, solves problems, celebrates success and contributes to the achievement of the business goals.

A business built, or restructured, on these principles will give the owners freedom. It will result in achieving more in less time, with greater creativity, reduced stress and ultimately more profit.

Sue Price is a Director of Sunaya, the Business Performance Specialists. She combines experience as an accountant, financial planner and entrepreneur.

The Sunaya System is a comprehensive 9-stage business performance program which enables a business or organisation to grow, expand and prosper by actually enabling directors, managers and employees to achieve more in less time, with greater creativity, less stress and ultimately more profit.

She can be contacted on sue.price@bigpond.com