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Crafting a Powerful Growth Vision

I'll never forget facilitating the leadership offsite for a rapidly scaling e-commerce company, when it became clear the execs were completely misaligned on the future. Their vision was muddy, strategy disjointed, and frustration rising.

Without unity and clarity at the top, growth can quickly spiral out of control. Companies expand in too many directions at once or fail to take the right strategic risks. Opportunities are missed when the leadership team lacks cohesion around where to go and how to get there.

So how do you set a clear vision and strategy for accelerated, sustainable growth as a leadership unit?

Define your BHAG. Using Scaling Up's Vision Summary tool, set a unified Big Hairy Audacious Goal - your 10-year target vision for the organization. Get granular on what wild success looks like across metrics, culture, team, and impact.

For that conflicted e-commerce firm, framing their BHAG - to become the #1 online retailer for eco-friendly family products - aligned them in the mission. It gave them a North Star for growth decisions.

Detail 3-Year Objectives. Break down that 10-year vision into 3-year milestones across the Four Decisions: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash. What key targets and benchmarks will move you substantially toward realizing the BHAG in a 3-year timeframe?

Determine 1-Year Priorities. Based on those 3-year objectives, detail the specific 12-month goals and vital initiatives across each area. Given your vision, what must get done this year to stay on trajectory toward the BHAG?

Assign Owners. For each priority initiative, designate a single accountable leader. Growth accelerates with clear ownership and P&L authority.

Set Performance Metrics. Identify the vital few key performance indicators you will track weekly or monthly to deeply understand performance and progress. KPIs should tie directly to your most important goals.

Communicate Widely. Share the vision, 3-year objectives, 1-year priorities, and KPI dashboard across the company. Rally the full team around supporting focused growth goals.

With alignment at the top and clear communication company-wide, you gain tremendous strategic momentum. Let's connect to craft your growth vision and strategy. The journey starts with a single step...

The key is united leadership. I'm excited to talk through how to get your executive team aligned, create focus across the organization, and build a consistent growth engine that takes your company where you want to go.