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Talking Strategy with Dr Julius Tapera
STRATEGY formulation entails casting a clearly articulated vision for the organisation so that all stakeholders are clear the organisation’s reason for existence.

A vision is a statement, which clearly states an organisation’s core business or reason for existence. It also paints a picture of the organisation’s preferred future.

A vision is the starting point of any organisational transformation process, and should underpin business strategy.
What business are we in and what is it that we want to be known for? What is it that we want to become in the near and distant future as the organisation grows.

This vision statement should then guide the firm’s shareholders, managers, and staff in engaging only in those activities that significantly contribute towards the attainment of that preferred future or state of being.
Without a clearly articulated vision, there is a risk of engaging in any business activity, which may not necessarily contribute towards the organisation’s sustainable growth into what it really intends to become.

An organisation that does not have a vision can easily stray into any “buzz” or “glitz” and be derailed from its original purpose. It is, therefore, very important that an organisation crafts and writes its vision down, so that it gives strategic direction to staff and management as they produce goods or provide services to their target market. Drawing inspiration from the Bible, Habakkuk 2 verse 2 says “…Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.” (King James Version).

This just emphasises the importance of having a vision and writing it down, so that it clearly shows the direction that the organisation intends to go, what it intends to become, which will guide the efforts of organisational members in achieving the set goals.

Some of the critical issues to consider in coining a strategic vision statement include what management envisages to give the organisation sustainable competitive advantage in the medium to long term, what new products or services to launch, which new markets to enter and how best to penetrate such new markets.

The vision inspires creativity and critical thinking in designing products and services and how best to package and deliver these products and services to the organisation’s target market.

Having a clearly articulated strategic vision sets the tone for managing an organisation with confidence and foresight, eliminating the risk of just muddling through and being carried away by every ‘shiny object’ that may trend in the market. A clearly laid out vision guides the allocation of resources and ensures that the organisation does not spend its valuable resources on activities or processes that do not contribute to the attainment of the vision.

A vision statement must be compelling and inspiring action amongst management and staff. A good vision is characterised by conciseness, clarity, abstractness, stability, future orientation, challenge and desirability or ability to propel the business into the future. A clearly articulated vision is associated with higher performance outcomes. A vision’s conciseness is indicated by how brief the vision statement is; ideally a concise vision statement contains between 11-22 words, rendering it easy to communicate and remember.

Abstractness in a vision statement means that the vision is meant to act as a guide for a wide range of business activities over a long period of time and suggest a longer-term goal that also allows for individual interpretations. It also facilitates innovation and creativity among staff members within the framework of the organisation’s overall vision.

Achievement

Closely related to this characteristic is that a vision must be challenging; possessing a high but achievable degree of difficulty – which also motivates staff to do their best to achieve organisational goals, enhancing the organisational members’ self-esteem in the process.

A powerful vision exhibits a long-term perspective of the business, and the future environment in which it functions, which gives staff security as it guarantees a better future.

In addition, a powerful vision is stable, although it must be flexible enough to market volatilities.
Various studies have identified some factors that potentially affect organisational performance, and these factors need to be taken into account when crafting a vision statement.
Some researchers have called these vision ‘‘realisation factors’’ and they include:

Communicating the vision; aligning organisational processes and systems to suit the vision;
Empowering others to act to achieve the vision; and motivating staff
In developing a good vision, organisational managers should consider some specific guidelines, which include that a vision should: be brief enough to be remembered and easily remembered, contain a prime goal to be achieved, encompass all organisational interests, not be a once-off goal that can be easily achieved and discarded, provide motivation to the organisational management and staff, offer a long-term perspective for the firm, be viewed as desirable by the employees.
Below are a few typical vision statements that meet most or all of the major characteristics for an ideal organisational vision:

“We are, and seek to remain, an integrated total beverage business dominating all sectors of the cold beverage market in Zimbabwe”
“…to be the leading financial services group in its chosen markets.”
“To be an international premier university in teaching and learning, community engagement, innovation and industrialisation informed by research”.

“To be at the forefront of innovation in the FMCG industry and provide consumers and customers products that will make a difference in their everyday lives, by people who care. Whilst maintaining the ethos of social upliftment.
“To be the epicentre of access to affordable, quality health care by 2025 and beyond.”
Dr Julius Tapera holds a PhD in Strategic Management and is currently the assistant to the Vice-Chancellor at Lupane State University. He is a strategic management consultant, motivational speaker and author. He can be contacted on mobile: +263773586037; Email: [email protected] or [email protected].