Without Vision The People Perish

February 11, 2020

One of the most powerful tools in The EOS Process? and in developing the Vision/Traction Organizer? (V/TO?) is your 3-Year Picture?. 

In this vivid vision exercise, we mentally walk the halls of the business. Ultimately, we help our clients come up with a bulleted list of 10-20 items that all the leaders agree to. It’s so powerful when you have all that human energy sharing the same vision. We then have everyone close their eyes as we tell a story about their 3-Year Picture.

Your 3-Year Picture Should Be Emotional

As we walk our clients through the story of their business, oftentimes people get very emotional. Sometimes you’ll have a leader or two crying. The reason is that a great 3-Year Picture is emotionally connected and driven. As a result, emotionally-driven teams are more likely to achieve all their goals. 

The 3-Year Picture is an exercise that is intended to get you and the leadership team seeing the same thing at the same time. They are the team that will need to accomplish the goals, so they better be on the same page with every aspect of where they are going. This is a much more effective way of planning because it has essentially the same impact of very detailed strategic plans without the heavy lifting. People just don’t remember 50 pages of non-emotional spreadsheets and words.

It All Starts With Vision, Shared By All

Our Vision/Traction Organizer is a complete two-page strategic plan. The vision side of the document is comprised of your Core Values, your Core Focus?, your 10-Year Target?, your marketing strategy, and your 3-Year Picture. As James Allen said: 

“The oak sleeps in the acorn. The bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of reality.” 

The reason our method of facilitating the 3-Year Picture is so powerful is that the entire leadership team is involved. Many leaders have created a vivid vision for themselves and try to force it on their team. The issue is that they are the only ones seeing it. It’s a start, but it’s much less effective than if all 3-8 people at the helm of the business are rowing in the same direction. 

You will do much better work and go faster if the entire team participates in creating your 3-Year Picture.

Previously published on the Optimize for Growth blog. 

Next Steps

• Download a copy of the EOS V/TO? to help you clarify, simplify, and achieve your vision.
• Watch EOS Founder Gino Wickman describe the 8 Questions Your Leadership Team Should Answer to help you clarify your company vision.
• Download a free chapter of Rocket Fuel to learn more about the Visionary and Integrator relationship.

Written by Mark O'Donnell on January 2, 2020

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To implement the ideas contained in this blog:

Books: Free Traction Series Book Downloads

Tools: Free Traction Tools

Help: Contact Ian Tonks, Certified EOS Implementer:

(415) 801-2661 (w); (415) 847-2212 (c) Email LinkedIn TractionTrainer.com