Recently we facilitated a core visions and purposes workshop for business leaders in the CPA industry. The content applies to leaders in any industry who want to build better businesses. The book Built to Last by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras provided a deep dive on vision, values and purpose. Understanding core visions and purposes provides a solid platform of confidence for the business leader’s success.
To start, our focus applied to how the leader impacts their firm. Knowing the leader’s sphere of influence is important. That is, to whom is the leader required to communicate and how often? For example, does your role include both internal and external communication channels?
To begin with we discussed core values. A leader must know their own core values, those of the business and the values of their people. Core values act as a filter for decision making. We also advise leaders to embed the company core values into policies and procedures.
Next we discussed core purpose. This is focused on why what you do is important. We addressed it from the individual and the business perspectives.
The final area we covered dealt with vision. It is the ‘where are you going’ part of the equation. A business leader must have a good understanding of where they are heading so as to focus on how to get there. In addition, a leader needs to know what is important and what is not important.
We presented our simple NOW WHERE HOW framework and linked it to the firm’s core purpose, strategies, core values and vision. Each attendee worked on their personal brand from this same perspective. Aligning personal vision to the business vision is one way to manage change and accountability.
Download the PPT here Core Visions and Purpose