When I work with a new client, part of the start-up phase of EOS is helping the team build out their Vision. In two one-day sessions spanned thirty days apart, I facilitate them to answer the Eight Questions that together comprise the vision of where they are going AND how they will get there. One of the most powerful parts of Vision Building (and one of my favorite parts of EOS to facilitate) is helping the team see their Three-Year Picture.
The Three-Year Picture answers the question “what will this business look and feel like three years from now?” It begins by making predictions about where the business will be in terms of Revenue, Profitability, and key Measurables.
After that comes my favorite part: helping the team create the picture of what it will look and feel like. The team agrees on 5 to 15 bullets that together paint a picture of their future. To me, this is the moment when the vision becomes real for the Leadership Team, and it is my job to make sure they see it as clearly as possible.
A critical piece is how I help them talk about it. For instance, if a member of the Leadership Team says “we’ll be a really fun place to work”, I could just write those words on my white board and move on. But I don’t. Instead, I ask that leader “tell me what a ‘really fun place to work’ looks like to you”. After I get the answer, I ask another leader “how does that match what you think it would look like”? The team then engages in a short – just a few minutes – discussion and agrees what a “really fun place to work” looks like. After that discussion, “Really Fun Place to Work” is no longer just five words on my white board. Instead, those words represent a deep, lucid idea in the mind of each member of that team.
So now imagine we do that across 15 bullets. Each bullet becomes a clearly and concisely defined facet of what the organization is going to look and feel like three years into the future.
Once they’ve agreed on all those bullets, we conclude with an exercise that helps them picture that future clearly and crisply in their mind’s eye. Psychologists tell us that if you can see something in your mind’s eye, it is much more likely to happen.
When that exercise concludes, two very important things have happened. First, each member of the Leadership Team sees it, believes it, wants it, and is committed to making it happen. Just as importantly, each member of the team can look around the table with confidence that every one of their peers sees the same picture they do.
Now THAT is alignment!
And that kind of alignment is critical to making your vision become reality.
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