Vision, Purpose, Values, Strategy and Business Planning:A Coherent and Cohering Model for Leaders and Organisations
Over the last ten years we have worked with several hundred company leaders and directors with respect to board and organisation performance. One of the key things we have found is that there is often a coherence disconnect surrounding the critical, top-level, organisation shaping elements of vision, purpose, values, and the strategy and planning aspects. In this article we would like to share our framing that:
· Draws all these elements into a very simple and clear framework
· Introduces a logic and flow between Vision and Purpose and the execution activities of Strategy and Business Planning, with the whole encompassed by Values
· Shows the power that can be derived with this cohering model providing Motive Force
In the following explanation we will build up the model in logical stages, from the top down. To see the complete model without this build-up scroll to the end of this paper.
Vision
Vision is depicted by the ‘Vision’ arrow figure below. There are a few questions we need to ask ourselves about why a Vision for an organisation might be important.
1. What question(s) are we seeking to answer by having or wanting a vision?
2. Over what time horizon should a vision seek to guide the organisation?
3. What positive aspects does the vision bring to an organisation?
4. Who is the focus of the organisation’s vision?
1. By having a clear, well-framed and meaningful vision the questions that it will answer are the ‘big’ WHAT? and WHERE? By this we mean, What does the organisation seek to achieve long-term? What does it stand for? What is its distinction? The vision also answers questions such as Where does the organisation want to be? Where is it ideally seeking to position itself? What space does it want to carve out for itself?
2. A company’s Vision is the top-level driving and positioning mechanism and consequently needs to be crafted over a realistically long-term horizon. Even for small companies 10 years would be normal and generally we think in terms of 15 to 20 years.
3. A well-crafted Vision provides clarity and direction derived from insight and foresight. Consequently, great visions make explicit the aspiration, ambition, distinction and positioning desires of the organisation.
4. The focus of the vision is a critical question. You will be seeking to make clear what the organisation is seeking to achieve, its distinction and ambition. These are things that are going to be of great interest (and value) to the organisation’s customers. They will also be important to the organisation’s employees who will want to know that the organisation they work for has clarity of vision, long-term perspectives, aspirations and ambitions. What we usually propose, for illustrative purposes, is that the Vision ‘message’ is 60% externally focused on customers and other external stakeholders and 40% internally focused. These are arbitrary figures designed to emphasise the difference.
Vision’s are the top level shapers of a long-term, aspirational future. They are powerful signposts for customers, employees and other stakeholders but on their own visions provided little else other than a broad signal. They need to work in conjunction with something else. That something is Purpose.
Purpose
Similar to Vision we need to have a clear understanding of what we want Purpose to achieve for the organisation. We can ask broadly identical questions as we did for Vision.
1. What question(s) are we seeking to answer by having or wanting a Purpose for the organisation?
2. Over what time horizon should Purpose seek to guide the organisation?
3. What positive aspects does having a Purpose bring to an organisation?
4. Who is the focus of the organisation’s Purpose?
1. The question that ‘Purpose’ answers from an organisation is the big WHY? Why do we do what we do? Why does/should the organisation exist? Why should anyone care? It goes to the motivation of the organisation’s reason for being.
2. Similar to Vision, Purpose is a top-level driver and needs to be in lockstep with Vision as the two elements work intrinsically together to provide a powerful outcome, as we shall see in the moment. Consequently, for good coherence, Purpose should have the same time horizon as the Vision.
3. When cogently formed and engrained, Purpose provides meaning for the organisation, its raison d’être. It sets out the philosophy, even ethos of the organisation which helps shape focus and even strategic intent. In its best outcomes Purpose is a powerful engine for commitment, motivation, energy and engagement. It can even generate excitement and advocacy. A powerful Purpose clearly sets out what the organisation stands for. It also helps clarify selection and recruitment criteria.
4. Understanding the primary and secondary focus of the Purpose element it is important. In this case Purpose is most likely to be more internally focused on employees. Consequently, for illustrative purposes we reverse the 60%/40% seen in Vision, it might even be 80/20 or more in some vocational organisations.
Vision + Purpose = Motive Force
Vision and Purpose are clearly of great importance but when thought of as two separate elements they can fail to reach their full potential as top-level drivers of organisational performance. Great organisational leadership recognises the power of combined Vision and Purpose, especially when aligned with culture and other elements of organisational capability. When well considered, well-crafted and in alignment with the organisational culture and norms, Vision and Purpose can generate something that we call Motive Force.
An organisation without motive force becomes immediately apparent to outside observers. They feel flat, a little bit lifeless, not a lot of noise or bustle, low human interaction, and just generally feel unengaged and not much fun. Conversely, high motive force organisations are instantly recognisable. They feel ‘buzzy’, engaged, lively, enjoyable places to be and people look and feel more mobile and energised.
Strategy
The top-level, long-term elements described above are powerful and necessary to provide the shape and energy an organisation will need to sustain it over time, and help it be successful in achieving its ambitions. However, Vision and Purpose don’t answer what we might call the ‘action orientation’ aspects. By this we mean, what do we need to do to move the organisation along its desired pathway?
Since we all know the 10 to 20 year time horizon is an unrealistic one from an action planning perspective we now drop into Strategy and strategic time horizons. Typically, most organisations think of strategic time horizons as being 3 to 5 years. Powerful Visions and Purposes provide the overarching guidance under which a 3 to 5 year Strategy can be logically and coherently framed. See below.
If we accept that the motive force imparted to the organisation is designed to move it somewhere ‘bigger and better’ (bearing in mind this means different things to different types of organisation), it will be no surprise to see that the first block of strategy is similarly designed to begin moving the organisation along that path.
Taking this logic several stages further, we can see that in the next diagram successive strategic blocks would, in a rational, stable environment continue to try and deliver the ‘bigger and better’ pathway. Clearly, in our modern, volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world the chances of seamlessly moving from one block of strategy to another is close to zero…unless you are monopoly.
However, with the cohering effects of strong and clear Vision and Purpose, and the Motive Force derived mean that the strategy can readily flex, and even change, to adapt to changing environmental conditions. The presence of generally stable, top-level framing provided by Vision and Purpose, ensures that strategies are always aligned to the longer term direction of travel desired for the organisation. See Below
The questions that Strategy (and associated strategic planning) answer are the ‘action’ and ‘doing’ questions. We tend to call them the ‘little 5w’s and h’. By this we mean: What do we need to do? Where do we need to do it? When you need to do by? Who do we need to do with? Why are we doing this (not that)? How do we do it?
NOTE: Mission: We are often asked “what about Mission”? Does it fit in this model? The response would bewe tend not to think about mission. However, if we do then it most readily maps onto the discrete tactical, executable packages that make up overall Strategies. If we think about ‘mission’ at all it is only in this smaller, strategic, action orientation sense. We reserve Purpose for the long term, overarching organisation shaping role.
Business Planning
With business planning we get into the detail of bringing the ‘action’ and ‘doing’ elements to life by detailing them properly, communicating them clearly, resourcing them fully, and ensuring plans, measures and milestones are achieved. As an observation, we have found organisations that do business planning on a one-year basis tend to effectively devolve to almost purely financial planning. Organisations that operate on a one-year/two year (sometimes three year) rolling planning basis tend to have more coherent approaches to implementation, fewer surprises, and more robust outcomes
Values and the Final, Fully Coherent Model
The last part of the model is the seemingly simple ‘wrapping’ of the whole model (and organisation) with the desired Values. These are the element the leadership wishes the organisation to live by, and therefore the behaviours desired to be exhibited by the people and thus the organisation itself. Consequently, VALUES answer the HOW question. Values when meaningful, properly and engagingly derived and introduced effectively are incredibly strong behavioural frames and drivers for organisations. When arrived at badly Values can causing considerable dissonance and in the worst cases extreme cynicism
If you like this model and/or have any questions or would like more detailed implementation information please do not hesitate to get in touch via the website: www.actinium-cs.com
©Murray Eldridge, 2022 - Director, Actinium CS Ltd