The previous article about testing assumptions with trusted advisors after crafting an organization’s vision highlights the importance of bouncing thoughts off others in order to foster a sense of togetherness and bond for future collaborations coupled with helping the organization streamline unnecessary elements of its vision. 

This article will help you think through ways you can communicate the vision of your organization clearly to employees within your own team, cross-departmental leaders, the board of directors, and everyone else involved. 

ALL STAKEHOLDERS ARE IMPORTANT 

Many leaders make prioritizing the classification of stakeholders into different levels of the importance of their topmost objective when thinking about communicating vision and it is right to consider this element of communicating a vision. However, it is equally important to know, understand and accept the fact that all stakeholders play an important role in bringing the vision of an organization to fruition. Therefore, senior leaders and executives are advised to pay close attention to the elements of the vision and carefully identify all parties that will be involved and the extent of their involvement at each stage of the execution phase. Furthermore, competent leaders make it a point to draw up a guideline or plan on how best to ensure all relevant stakeholders are actively engaged and heard before, during and after the execution of a vision. Thereby ensuring frequent communications all through the process of executing a vision. 

EMBRACE THE DYNAMICS OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT 

Though many things can be uncertain when executing a vision, some things can be guaranteed. One guaranteed element of executing a vision is ‘change’ itself. To execute a new vision, some old elements of the former business would have to change. Change in itself isn’t bad when executed well is a fantastic thing. However, with change comes friction. Different stakeholders will perceive any change from different angles, thus the necessity to hear their opinions and communicate the benefits of the change about to happen on them.  

5 HELPFUL WAYS TO CLEARLY COMMUNICATE YOUR ORGANIZATIONS VISION 

1. Listen to all stakeholders without judgment for their pain points and issues with the vision. 
2. Acknowledge their feedback and pain points, then thoughtfully analyze it in case of any missed assumptions, mistakes on your part and components not preciously taking into consideration. 
3. Enumerate and emphasize the benefits of the vision to the entire organization. 
4. Specifically, showcase the maximum benefit they get to personally derived by this stakeholder and carefully minimize the effect of the downside by pointing to the benefits it affords the other aspects of the organization, thus helping them to see things from a more holistic point of view. 
5. Maintain a frequent and consistent communication pattern all through the stages of vision development and execution. Set up a plan or guide to help handle concerns and challenges as well as view resolved challenges. 

Overall, crafting and deploying a vision isn’t a day’s work. Experience is needed, which is gained by doing, so be bold, patient and relentless in carrying all your relevant stakeholders along for a smooth vision communication.