Leadership a - z : V is for Vision

Creating a shared vision in your team is part of the foundation of any high-performing team. What is the vision for your team?

"There is no more powerful engine driving an organization toward excellence and long-range success than an attractive, worthwhile, achievable vision for the future, widely shared."

— Burt Nanus, Visionary Leadership

Vision work can be foundational to a staff retreat, or strategic planning process.

As Seneca wrote centuries ago,

 “To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.”

  

Questions to consider when exploring vision with your team:

• What do we want to be known for?
• If we could not fail, what would we accomplish?
• What values underpin our work - customer service, integrity
• What are our major goals?
• In order to achieve our vision, what do we need to say no to?
• What is the core of our vision?
•  

At your next staff meeting, it may be useful to have some dialogue around your vision as a team. How does this connect with, and support, organizational goals and strategies?

What's that compelling vision for your work, which will pull you through the peaks and valleys of business today?

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, PCC

Potentials Realized | GroupCoachingEssentials 

Author of Effective Group Coaching and From One to Many: Best Practices of Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
Phone: (416)996-TEAM
Learn more about our retreat and leadership development offerings and support 
Visit our daily tips for teams and team leaders at the Teams 365 blog
 
As an author Jennifer Britton is known for her thought leadership in the area of group and team coaching. She is also a former leader and team builder who spent the first 13 years of her career working within the United Nations as well as the international aid sector. From Boardroom to jungle, beach and forest to mountains, Jennifer has worked to develop teams and leaders in more than 18 countries, and virtually many more. She founded Potentials Realized in 2004 and focuses on leadership, teamwork and coaching skills training. 

 

Teamwork and Vision

Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results. ~Andrew Carnegie

As we move into a new business year many organizations take a look at teams and what they want to create in the year ahead. It is certainly a popular time of year for planning and team building. How effective are your teams? What is the link between the corporate goals and individual contribution? How clear are team-members about this link?

Last year, we put a focus on leadership here at the blog. Most leaders recognize that their successes are linked to their teams successes. So this year, we are going to continue to focus on the interplay between teams and leadership.

I look forward to much dialogue throughout the year on teams and leadership. If there are some focus areas or questions you have that you'd like spotlighted on the blog this year, please drop me an email.

In the meantime, please check out the team and leadership tags to see what I've said/written over the past few years!

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010)
Potentials Realized
Team Building and Team Coaching Services
Phone: 416.996.TEAM (8326)

Leadership - Vision

What's the vision for your work? Where do you want to be 6 months from now? 1 year from now? 3 years from now? What about your vision for your team?

It is quite easy to get caught up in the short term and urgent priorities which take our eyes off the horizon and pull us squarely into the hear and now.

Leadership vision is a critical success factor in today's marketplace. Here is what a number of writers have to say on vision:

" Vision is the art of seeing the invisible" - Jonathon Swift

"If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left if compromise" - Robert Fritz

"Nothing stops and organization faster than people who believe that the way you worked yesterday is the best way to work tomorrow" - Jon Madonna

"Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality" - Warren Bennis

Consider these questions moving forward:
- What is your strength as it relates to vision?
- Where would you like to be 6 months from now? 1 year from now? 3 years from now?
- What will it take to lead from vision?

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley 2010)
Potentials Realized

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! And welcome back to the Biz Toolkit blog. I hope that you each had a wonderful holiday and got some well deserved rest. Are you ready to make 2008 great?

For those of you who like New Years predictions, I've come across some great blog posts that are already out there including:

Amit over at How to Manage Human Resources : 60 HR Predictions for 2008

Inside Retailing: Top 10 Business Predictions for 2008

Business Week's Innovation Predictions for 2008

Queen's University's (Canada) Predictions for 2008

What other posts have you read about New Year business predictions that you've liked? What are yours? Feel free to comment below.

Do you want to make 2008 great for your business?

If you are looking to make the new year great and you are a business owner, I hope that you will consider joining me for the 2008 Biz Success Virtual Planning Retreat. If you haven't had the chance to do your business planning for 2008, here are three chances to join me for a six hour structured business planning retreat by phone.

No need to leave your office and all your resources. Each hour we will meet for 10 -15 minutes by phone as a small group to focus in on a new area of business planning, and then we will spend the remaining part of the hour offline doing our own work on our own business. This program will be of interest to new and experienced business owners -- anyone who wants to ensure that business will be great in 2008! See my earlier post on December's programs here.

You have three sessions to choose from:

BVR-081: Saturday January 5 (10 - 4pm EST) OR

BVR - 082: Sunday January 13 (10 - 4pm EST) OR

BVR - 083: Thursday January 17 and 24 (7-10pm EST both evenings)

In addition to the retreat, each group will have a follow up call, and each particpant will receive the Biz Success Planning Manual by email. This is a resource for the retreat and for the year ahead.

Your investment - $150 US or Canadian. Space is limited for each virtual planning retreat so email me if you'd like to reserve your spot. You can also call me toll free at 1-866-217-1960. Download a registration form here.

Have a wonderful start to the year!

Warm regards,

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP, CPT

Potentials Realized

Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960

Year End Review and 2008 Visioning - Audio

Every year at this time I send out to my clients a special exercise, to help them reflect on the past year and do some planning and visioning for the year ahead.

This year I am pleased to provide you with a link so you can listen to it:



I hope that you enjoy it! I know that you will find this useful, whether you are a business owner, manager, virtual team leader or team member.

I'd welcome your comments -- as always, please feel free to comment below.

Warm regards,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Email: jennifer{at} potentialsrealized.com

PS - Stay tuned for a number of special virtual retreat programs to wrap up 2007, and kick off 2008! Space still remains in Tuesday's Biz Success Virtual Planning Retreat for Small Business Owners (7-10 pm EST on Dec 11 and 18/07)

Business Owners - 2008 Virtual Planning Retreat

Haven't had the chance to do your business planning for 2008 OR to develop a vision for what you want to create with your business next year?

If you are a business owner who reads my blog you will know my thoughts on how important taking the time to plan for your business really is.

I am pleased to be offereing the 2008 Biz Success Virtual Planning Retreat(TM) for Business Owners next month. This is a virtual business planning retreat for small business owners, so you can dedicate time to planning, without having to leave your office. We'll be meeting by phone for an intensive 6 hour planning retreat, held by phone, over the course of two weeks.

So, you get tools to apply immediately to your business and your planning efforts, dedicated space to focus on your business (we meet for 15 minutes of every hour as a group with the rest of the hour spent off line working on individual planning), and the support of a group environment.

Business owners who attend will:
* Develop their vision for 2008 for their business;
* Explore or reconnect with their business values;
* Set their major Business Objectives for 2008;
* Develop a Business RoadMap for 2008;
* Develop their 2008 Marketing Strategy and Plan;
* Develop an operational budget and partnership strategy for 2008.

The Biz Success Virtual Planning Retreat will be of interest to new and seasoned business owners who are committed to conscious, intentional action and planning for their business.

Retreat participants will receive:
* 6 hours of structured retreat time (combination of group work and individual planning time)
* A virtual retreat manual with exercises, tools and templates for their business planning
* A one hour group follow up call in January
* Individual follow up coaching sessions (Gold and Silver packages only)

Space is limited to 12 business owners per session.

Space is still available for the business planning retreat held on:
Tuesday December 11 and 18/07 from 7 - 10 pm (EST)

For more information or to register, please visit the dedicated web page on the program here. You can also email me at info@potentialsrealized.com if you would prefer to pay by Visa (by phone).

Your investment?
Gold Package: $550 for retreat plus 2 hours of follow up 1-1 business coaching

Silver Package: $350 for retreat, materials plus 1 hour of follow-up 1-1 business coaching

Bronze Package: $150 for retreat, materials and recording

It's a win-win for you and your business. Remember for every 10 minutes spent planning, you are going to save at least 2 hours on effort. So imagine the impact of 6 plus hours of dedicated focus on your business planning? I look forward to having you join me!

To your continued business success,

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP

Potentials Realized

90 Day Biz Success Program

Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960

What's Your Plan for 2007?

I love this time of year – every year I carve out time in December to finalize plans for my business for the upcoming year. What do you have planned for 2007?

If you haven’t done so, set aside at least 30 minutes over the coming weeks to start planning and visionning for the upcoming year, as well as celebrating this past years successes. Here are some questions to get you going (and feel free to add your own):

Reflecting on 2006:
1. What was the scope of my core business this year?
2. What new clients am I serving? What new products/services am I offering?
3. How did my business results compare to my business objectives for the year?
4. What new skillls have I gained that will be useful for my business?
5. What new knowledge do I now have that will be useful for my business?
6. What new contacts did I make?
7. What new resources did I acquire that will be useful?
8. What am I most proud of accomplishing this year with respect to my business?
9. How will I celebrate this?
10. My biggest learning about my business this year was....
11. My biggest stretch this past year was.....

Visioning for 2007:
1. My vision for 2007 is...
2. I want to serve ____ clients/customers in 2007 (insert number). I want to serve these particular clients/customers:
3. I want to generate ____ dollars in 2007
4. What additional resources do I need in order to make my business as successful as possible?
5. What additional skills or knowledge do I need to make my business as successful as possible?
6. One limiting belief I need to overcome next year is…
7. One thing I can do next year to grow my business is…..
8. One thing I can do to challenge myself, and my business, next year is….
9. My three most important goals in 2007 are.....
10. By December 31st 2007, I want to have……

Stretch yourself to make your vision for 2007 as big, bold, specific and challenging for yourself as possible. Refer to your vision often, share it with the world. Who can you draw on for support to make this vision a reality?

I will be starting the 90 Day Biz Success program, an intensive group coaching program for business owners who are looking for a structure for peer support and resources to move their business forward. The program will start on Monday January 8th, meeting bi-weekly on Mondays from 7-8 pm (EST). Group calls will be held on January 8, 22, February 5, 19, March 5, 19 with the final call on April 2/07.

The program includes:
* 7 x 1 hour group coaching calls (by phone in a teleseminar format)
* 3 x 30 minute individual coaching sessions with myself
* Module Notes
* 36 Biz Tips Delivered to your inbox 3 times a week for the 12 weeks
* A group follow up call one month after the program ends (May)

We will be covering a range of topics pertinent to business owners and their success, including visioning, identifying your leverage points, marketing strategy and budget, and much more. For more information, please visit: www.groupcoachingessentials.com/pages/bizsuccess. The program costs $149USD/month or $350 USD for the entire program. Space is limited to 8 business owners. To register please contact me at 1-866-217-1960 or email me.

I look forward to hearing from you. Please feel free to comment on the exercise!

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Email: jennifer [at] potentialsrealized[dot]com

The Importance of Vision

What's The Vision for Your Business ten years from now? As business owners and professionals, we often get so caught up in the day to day successes and challenges that we forget to look down the road at where we are going.

A clear business vision can be an important part of our business planning process, as well as a great support for us as we navigate the ups and downs.

Sit back for a moment and think about the following - In 2016, where will you be?

• How much money will you be making?
• What will you be doing?
• Who are you serving?
• What will you be known for?
• What will be your most significant accomplishments?
• What major life and business goals will have been achieved?

Some pretty big questions - Stretch yourself and write these down. Make sure you are writing them down - make it as clear as possible, and something that you can return to. There are lots more questions to consider in creating your busines vision. Start a file or a book for your business vision notes . The clearer you are, the easier it will be for you to achieve this vision - even when the path ahead looks murky.

In a couple of weeks, I will be starting my next two month teleseminar series for business owners - Developing Your Business Vision. If you are interested in finding out more or registering, please visit my website www.potentialsrealized.com, or contact me toll free at 1-866-217-1960. We'll be meeting on Thursdays from 7-8 pm (EST) starting on March 29th for two months (meeting as a group during the 2nd and 4th weeks of the month). You'll also receive each month an individual business coaching session of 30 minutes (by phone).

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPCC, CPT

Potentials Realized