Roadmap for growth

What does a vision include? The word “vision” is tossed around a lot these days without a clear explanation of what it signifies to the company. This leads to several different interpretations and potential unalignment. I will provide what I encompass in my vision; think of this as a recommended ingredient list. There are parts you can leave out, but feel inspired to add others. Every vision at the end of the day should be unique to its creator:

A long-term goal of where you want to take the company in 10-20 years. It should seem huge and almost impossible. It usually consists of a revenue target, such as “$30 million by 2030,” but it can also be more purpose based like “Save 1 billion gallons of water by 2040.”

Your team wants to know why you want to accomplish this vision and why they should join your journey. A good example is Ford Motor’s: “To drive human progress through freedom of movement.” Here at K&D’s our purpose is: “To raise the bar in the landscape industry."

These provide a clear expectation of how people should show up to work. It also provides a baseline for decision-making when faced with difficult situations. For example, if a client is upset about an issue with quality and your core value is “deliver a high-quality product,” your team member will feel more empowered to make the situation right with the client.

This will be where the rubber hits the road. Your one-year outlook should be detail heavy and include goals/descriptions of revenue, cashflow, employee additions, employee retention targets, new services you want to offer, new clients you want to pursue, new markets you want to break into, software integrations, equipment purchases, new employee benefits, other large projects and anything else that helps paint the picture of what success looks like in the next 12 months. The more particularized, the better.

This will be an extended version of your one-year outlook. It will help paint the picture and give general guidance of where the company is heading with milestones of how to get there.

Finally, you will pull all this together on a 1–2-page document. I use the Entrepreneurial Operating Systems’ Vision/Traction Organizer to organize our vision at K&D. This form is free to download and very user-friendly.

Don’t feel like you must do this all at once. It may take 6-12 months to fully define, and from there you should update it quarterly to stay relevant. You may already have some of these components or an idea of what you want to accomplish. Stay open minded to changing things as you go through this process. Wherever you feel you do your best work, find that spot and block out a few days to spend building your future success roadmap. Happy vision building!