How Does Your Vision Impact Your Profit, Today and Tomorrow?
By Sue Moore
Does your vision actually drive business value?
Most businesses have one. It's written in the business plan, pinned to a vision board or used as a line in the marketing. But too often it just sits there. It sounds good, but it isn't changing anything.
A vision shouldn't be words on a page. It should describe where you're going, and your strategy should explain how you're going to get there.
Then come the numbers
This is where I see the gap most often.
Too many financial forecasts read like a wish list: "Next year we'll grow by 20%."
That's a fine ambition, but what is going to make that 20% happen?
A forecast without a plan behind it is a hope. For the numbers to mean something, your vision, strategy, team and financial plan all need to point in the same direction.
If you want to double the business, what needs to change?
Say your ambition is to double the size of your business. Before that goes into a spreadsheet, you need to work out what will drive it:
- More customers?
- Higher average spend?
- More recurring revenue?
- New markets?
- Better margins?
- Greater capacity (people, systems or premises)?
Each one leads to different decisions, investment and actions. Once you know which levers you're pulling, the forecast stops being a guess and becomes a plan you can deliver.
Everyone has a part to play
Alignment isn't just a job for the founder or the leadership team. Every stakeholder, from your team to your franchisees to your partners, needs to understand where the business is going and what they need to do to help get there.
Research has long linked clear strategic alignment with stronger organisational and financial performance. When people know how their work connects to the bigger picture, they make better decisions, and the results follow.
The chain that builds value
I think of it as a simple chain:
Vision → Strategy → Actions → Measures → Results
Each link depends on the one before it:
- A vision without a strategy is a dream.
- A strategy without actions is just a document.
- Actions without measures can't be managed.
When the whole chain is aligned, across the board, your vision stops being words and starts building value, both in today's profit and in what the business is worth tomorrow.
Invite me to speak
This is a topic I love talking about, and it goes down particularly well with founders, franchise leaders and leadership teams. If you're organising an event, conference, networking group or team away day and want a speaker who will leave your audience with practical steps, not just inspiration, I'd love to hear from you.
Possible sessions include:
- Does your vision actually drive business value? Turning ambition into a plan that delivers.
- Beyond the wish-list forecast: building financial plans your team can deliver.
- Build for tomorrow, not just today™: creating value now while getting ready for the future.
Get in touch to talk about speaking at your event. Message me on LinkedIn and I'll send you the details.
Build for tomorrow, not just today™.