Aligning Vision & Aim

With a coffee, notepad, and pen in hand you head into a meeting as 2023 kicks off to discuss the vision for the new year. There is a lot of talk about key performance indicators, target numbers, important dates, and the vision of how the year will go.

These meetings can lead to feeling energized and optimistic. A bright future was outlaid and that can feel good. However, is the vision of the future aligned with what the organization is actually aiming at?

What Do I Mean by Aim?

An organization can have excellent branding with a very motivated social media crew making engaging content that gets a lot of likes and brand recognition. But what happens if organizational aim does not support these efforts?

The organizations attitude towards professional development, continuing education, human resources, and operations management show what is truly being aimed at. Poorly performing in or or many of these categories will change the orientation of the organization and pull its aim away from the target that a carefully crafted vision outlines. An archer may have their eyes fixed on the center of the bullseye but bad habits with poor mechanics will aim the arrow elsewhere.

How do I Align Vision and Aim?

To make sure aim aligns with vision, the organization must make investments of time, resources, and innovation into supporting activities.

For example, a logistics organization has a team of coordinators that they want to handle more than just ocean freight and incorporate air freight. The organization in this instance should invest in ensuring that the coordinators are built from the ground up in air freight to avoid bad habits, develop best practices, and be in a position to ask questions from a qualified professional to achieve a high level of competence. If the organization decides to shortchange the training or decides that good enough training is good enough, then the coordinators may not have the skill set or confidence to build a book of business or serve existing clients well. In this instance, the organization's aim is off and does not align with or support the vision.

Perhaps in the above example, they want the coordinators to start running air freight and learn as they go. This mentality is akin to packing for a trip when you get to the airport rather than at home. It puts things out of order which may lead to costly omissions and scrambling to "make it work."

Investing in activities that add value to the organization, team members, brand, and offerings are never a waste of time. Time is something that will be invested as a matter of doing business and cannot be avoided. The question becomes how time will be invested and if that investment is of good quality. Checking boxes in training will have a poor return, investing in training is foundational for a bright future.

Poor investments into the organizational vision can also impact employee morale. If the employees are constantly pushed towards a goal and vision but do not see the organizational support or investment in helping them get there, that becomes a problem that impacts organizational health.

Foundation then Framework

All this to say, align your aim with your vision and let your actions match your words. Build a foundation upon which the framework will steadily stand to allow the organization to successfully aim at what the vision outlays. When the team, culture, and vision come into alignment, the potential for success grows.