Sheffield’s World Champion Jessica Ennis-Hill is a true inspiration, not only for aspiring athletes, but I think for business leaders. She’s a great example of 3D Characteristic #1: ‘Get That Vision Thing’. Jessica set herself a clear picture of where she wanted to be – that was gold at Bejing – and got her team behind her focused on ‘making it happen’. She clearly got ‘buy-in’ from her team, family and friends on helping her deliver and the result was a truly inspirational performance in winning gold yesterday.
A big difference from her achieving Olympic Gold back in 2012 was the fact that she had to juggle a busy schedule of being a mum and looking after her son with working ‘ON’ her training and development – again, something lots of business leaders have to do (not necessarily looking after kids, but dealing with the ‘day to day’ and not getting distracted!)
As Jessica herself said “This has been the hardest year ever. There were different pressures going into London 2012, but here juggling all my mummy duties has been even harder. I want to thank everyone for their help and sacrifices in helping me get back to being the athlete I was.”
Here are 10 things we see 3D Businesses do when it comes to ‘Getting That Vision Thing’ – see how you and your business (or part of the business) measure up, and then work out what you need to work on…
3D Businesses….
1. Create it…. They establish a clear vision of the future for their business that ‘stimulates, excites and inspires’ everyone in the business.
2. Establish Consensus…. There is clear agreement of that picture of the future at a senior level.
3. Get ‘Buy – In’…. Everyone in their business has bought into that future picture and feels part of it.
4. Make It Tangible…. They turn their vision into clear tangible goals and targets that drive both individual and business performance
5. Get ‘Alignment’…. They ensure everyone in the business has clear objectives and performance targets linked to that vision – they all pull in the same direction!
6. Use it… They ensure that their vision shapes and drives their day to day decisions at every level of the business
7. Celebrate Success…. They proactively highlight and share their successes and the individuals that contribute to it
8. Keep It ‘Alive’… They proactively keep all their people updated on progress and plans in a timely, meaningful and relevant way
9. Work ‘ON’ it… They consistently create time to think and work ‘strategically’ ‘on’ the business to review progress and look forwards
10. Revisit And Redo It…. They consciously create time to keep looking ahead and create their next vision!
We’re less than 12 months away from the next Olympics in Rio – Jessica’s on for ‘Gold’ I’m sure – what will you have achieved?
