The Vision is be used to produce a roadmap of the company’s future, including:

• Its strategic direction or directions
• The customer focus it should have
• It’s aims and objectives
• The business activities to be pursued to achieve those aims and objectives
• The market in which it seeks to operate, or is operating in
• The market position it seeks to achieve
• The corporate capabilities which are required
• The type of identity which is necessary for this purpose

Key stakeholders should be involved if not in defining the vision, certainly in accepting, promoting and embedding it within the organisation.

Once produced it should be periodically revisited to ensure it is Fit for Purpose, thereby validating that the Strategic Direction or Directions, are appropriate and relevant.

Strategy derives from the Greek word stratēgos, which itself derives from two words: stratos (army) and ago (ancient Greek for leading).

We define strategy as the creation of a different and unique value proposition, which involves a new direction or directions, ways of working and envisioned end results.

Actions which present a change to normal daily operations, but will not add value to the business bottom line, are not strategically aligned.

Any such actions should be discarded in favour of those that do add value.

The Business Planning Cycle requires the Top Team to:

• Identify the change initiatives necessary to achieve the organisational objectives, required over the next operating period of the Business Plan
• Produce the required level of detail to enable the next step
• Position the change within the Complexity Continuum®
• Map all such initiatives by Function or Business Unit, as is appropriate
• Remove duplications and resolve any mutual exclusions
• Finalise remaining and authorise them at the strategic level

We can help the CEO and Top Team to revisit the Vision and Strategic Direction, change it where necessary, and make decisions on:

• Ending or terminating existing change initiatives
• Removing duplications between change initiatives
• Assessing benefits that have been realised and those are yet to be realised
• Building in benefits for new change initiatives, into the Benefits Map
• Demonstrating realisation of value to stakeholders and shareholders
• And instilling confidence based on the future direction, as shown by new strategies and/or the new change initiatives