How to increase staff retention by developing a strong company vision.

Recently I headed for a few days R&R in rural Perthshire. Before setting off, I checked the location of the destination on Google Maps, so I knew where I was going. It would have been impossible for me to get there if I didn’t know the destination or plan the route to take.

This week I am heading to a meeting in the West End of Edinburgh, and again, before I set off, I’ll check the address and know how to get there from Haymarket station.

We all do this, all the time.

We find out where the destination is, plot our route to get there.

So why should it be any different in business? The answer. It shouldn’t. In business, that destination is usually called the ‘vision’.

Vision and staff retention

The importance of having a compelling vision will help you attract people to your business and, more importantly, help you retain the talent already there.

People want to know where a company is heading. They want to know where the likely destination will be if they commit 3-5 years of their lives to working there. They want to dream about the destination, and dream about what the journey may be like to get there. What fun they will have, what adventures they will experience, what challenges they will overcome and how they will develop and improve professionally and personally for having been on the journey.

I remember being in my mid-20s, sitting in a large conference room listening to the MD of the business I worked for at the time roll out a compelling, ambitious vision. I was sold. I bought into the vision instantly and could see the opportunities it could bring me if I continued to work hard and show what I was capable of. Without that vision, I very likely would have explored other jobs and could have been swayed to leave, but with that vision firmly in my mind, I set out to play my part in making it happen.

Vision 2030

In my mind, a good vision should stir emotion. That might be nervousness, excitement, happiness or even trepidation! It should be easily communicated, and everyone in the firm (whether they agree with it or not) should be able to articulate it. However, it should also come with a road map. There should be some coherent, actionable, quantitative steps that the business needs to take in the next 6-24 months to reach the destination.

At iMultiply, we have just rolled out Vision 2030, which sets out the ‘direction of travel’ and where we want to head towards. It’s ambitious and punchy! But why shouldn’t it be? It’s about the journey of trying to make the adventure a reality, not in whether we end up at the destination. And we’ve combined it with our Strategic Goals, which we need to achieve in the next 12-18 months to make sure we take a big step in the right direction of making Vision 2030 happen.

Vision alone isn’t enough (as the old saying goes, “vision without action is just hallucination”). Likewise, short-term goals by themselves are not enough, but combined is where the magic lies. It will help you attract people to your firm and keep your key players as they will see what’s in it for them.

For support on staff retention or advice on market trends start the conversation with one of our consultants today.