What Is Your 2023 Team Vision?
What does your team need to help your business succeed?
I bet if I ask you what your 2023 vision is for your business, you’ll likely have a good idea. Maybe you’ve reflected, formally or informally, reviewed and planned and strategised what your business is going to look like in 2023.
One vision I notice many small to medium businesses miss clarifying is their vision for their team. If I ask you what your 2023 team vision is – do you have an answer?
There are a few key ingredients to identifying your 2023 team vision. You need to know the what. You need to know the why. You need to then share it with your team. And then you need to plan your team’s capacity – what do they need, maybe even who do they need, to deliver your business vision?
Is it more tools? Or is it more people? Is it clearer roles and responsibilities? Is it a new position? Is it professional development? Is it transitioning team members across roles that are a better fit?
Whatever it is, it’s your responsibility as the leader of your business to support your people and help set them up to succeed in their roles. Whether you’ve been a boss for decades or you’re just becoming the boss, understanding leadership will be invaluable knowledge on your journey.
How to bring your team on the journey.
People want to feel part of something bigger, particularly when it comes to work considering we spend so much of our lives working. Employees are no longer just looking for a 9-5. They want a job that affords them flexibility, job security, career growth opportunities and that aligns with their values and in Australia, the job market is tipped in favour of talent as we begin 2023.
The beginning and end of the year are typically when employees start looking for better opportunities as they reflect on their own vision and missions and whether they align with your business – or someone else’s.
So, to keep your great team with you for as long as it serves both of you:
- Foster community
Part of your 2023 business vision will inevitably involve your people – your team – and it’s a good idea to get them involved in planning and strategy so they feel more invested in your business outcomes. Learning how to keep great staff is an invaluable leadership skill. People want to belong to a community so start seeing your business as a place where your community gathers – and keep that at the forefront of your mind as you go through the year ahead.
How can you better serve your community? What does your community need?
- Provide certainty
People also like certainty, to know what’s ahead, to know what’s coming, to know what might be asked of them so that they can prepare mentally and emotionally. Being at work is no different. Your business vision is part of providing this certainty and clarity – how you get there might change over the year ahead, but where you’re heading should be crystal clear to you and your team.
- Align with your team members
A team vision works best when you can align the needs and aspirations of your individual team members with your business direction. This is really where the magic comes into play and you can start to find more flow in your day-to-day.
Involving your team is also about listening to your team. What are their goals and vision for 2023? What do they want to achieve? Where are the opportunities and overlap with your business vision? How can you make this concrete with a plan of action?
This could be things like identifying professional development opportunities, expanding or contracting your teams, perhaps reordering the structure of your business to help serve your team – and ultimately your business vision – over the year ahead.
- Make it visible and tangible
Once you’ve identified your business and team visions – make it visible. Create a mind map, a flow chart, a poster – something that can be displayed and regularly referred to so that the destination is front and centre, like a north star.
Even if it is your business – you couldn’t do it without your people. Don’t lose sight that part of being a business leader is caretaking the wellbeing and professional careers of the individuals who commit to working for you and your business.
Ensure that your people are clear on what they’re doing, why they’re doing it and how to do it – and when it’s time to let them go, do so gracefully.
How can I deliver my team and business vision in 2023?
Having a clear idea of where you want to go is just the first step – how you get there is where the fun begins.
You may want to plan for several pathways to success so you understand what each different scenario will present you and your team with – particularly identifying any risks or hazards.
Capacity Planning
Capacity planning is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle of how to achieve your business and team goals. The Clean Slate Exercise is a great way to identify your team and business capacity to achieve the goals you’ve created – and spot where the gaps in resourcing are likely to be.
Do you have the right people in the right roles for this time in your business? Do they have all the skills and tools they need already or do we need to pick some up along the way? Do they have the same map directing them towards your business mission?
Budgeting
Budgeting is another area where lofty business goals get tripped up – dream big, by all means, but underpin it with a realistic budget of what success looks like to your business so you can help mitigate risk later down the track. It’s all good and well to say, I’d love a team of ten – but if you can only budget to grow from 5 to 7 then that vision and how it’s achieved is going to look a little different. Maybe you need to hire a senior team member but the salary range for their skillset is just out of reach – this then becomes about using 2023 to your advantage and setting you up to acquire this team member and skill in 2024 or beyond.
Structure
Structuring your business as it evolves is crucial to the longevity and sustainability of your business model. What worked in the first 1-2 years of your business may not serve you in years 3-5. This is another area where I see business fall over all the time – they’ve got a great product or service, they’ve been around for a while, they have great people but it’s just not working. Your business structure plays an integral role in your business success. This is anything from the roles and responsibilities, to identifying the magic number of direct reports, to your business systems and workflow and to identifying things like outsourcing opportunities.
Conclusion
It’s not too late to get your 2023 vision clear for the year ahead – and it’s never late to check in with your team to identify their visions and how you can align them both. Achieving business success through your team is not only possible, it’s essential to thriving in this post-pandemic landscape.
If you’re finding it challenging to carve out time to plan your business vision, don’t know where to start when it comes to your team vision, or just need some clarity on how to align these two, click here to book a complimentary call with our business HR expert today.
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