Every business has a variation of creating strategy and creating a vision for the company, everyone does this slightly differently, particularly in the hybrid work era.
The Rules Of Vision
As previously written in the company vision cheatsheet, the vision is a ten-year top level achievable driver for the company, vision is what you will strive to become from successful strategic steps.
You can revisit your Vision every 3 years. More revisiting means it is not a vision it is a tactics based strategy.
Vision should be set by leadership and the supporting panel.
With the many options available in today’s work environment, there are a few steps to ensure you take to ensure the strategy or vision lands well.
A/ You have to make the presenter comfortable, they have to know their content and be able to feel like they have landed their message the best way they can
B/ Ask for specific feedback and questions in set time frames to ensure you have covered those who have attended and those who were absent.
C/ Set guidelines of what is negotiable and timelines to review and drive these steps forward.
A company vision is a great step and long term compass, however, the likelihood is the team needs to know they are co-pilots and there are steps they can drive forward with.
The Most Effective Way To Land The Presentation
Pre Record:
- I recommend pre-recording the video of the presentation (that way stick to a time schedule – 10-30 minute max) and taking the Q&A in real-time.
- Consider how you can add (cc) captions for those who may have disabilities
- You can now embed videos within videos across PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides and Canva
- Ensure all links or reference points are linked to and available (HBR articles, big reports and articles are often behind paywalled and inaccessible)
- Allows team members to download the presentation deck to review after the presentation
- You can also ensure the presentation is something people can watch back (for those who cannot attend or on annual leave etc)
Call To Actions:
- Leverage the forms of tech available now and ensure you encourage engagement and CTA’s
- Leverage QR codes and links to create an open discussion.
Connective Chairperson
Consider a chairperson to ensure it is a true Q&A format with the “leader” and the team and then people can ask follow up questions and is managed away from the founder or CEO presenting. This step is important as they chairperson will be the bridge between the founder and the staff members.
Tip: Something that works well is keeping a couple of pre-planned or “pre-approved” questions as many don’t want to be the first to ask a question and can spark conversation or create ideas in the team’s head.
Tools To Leverage:
- Slido is easy to organise Q&A and can gain votes on questions. This covers introverts, extroverts and ambiverts.
- Chat Apps – If you use slack or teams you can leverage the anonymous bot and settings to ask questions or give feedback.
- Forms – Google forms can work but fails with threaded conversations. Microsoft forms are an option too however they can be
- Spreadsheets – Some use Google Sheets or Excel to
- Consider votes –
- If you have a company wiki or internal knowledge centre ensure you record the event and post the presentation and Q&A to ensure it is accessible to all.
Ensure Clarity
Many smaller companies and startups enjoy the open approach and ability to add specific emojis to reach or show support, however, these emojis and reactions are hard to interrupt and very often any follow up is not anonymous leading to some frustrations.
Departments & Future Teamwork
Your company culture is a crucial element to consider and keep front of mind, especially when presenting a company strategy that many have not been involved in or if you have changed the company vision you will be painting a picture that could seem like a huge shift, businesses struggle with big change without a detailed plan they are can add into.
Remember Vision & Strategy Are Very Different
Vision and strategy are very different streams of work, it is imperative to ensure these two streams are clearly defined and the audience knows the difference and clearly shows how the strategy rolls up into a broader vision.
No connection will cause a disconnect and ripple through the business.
Timeframe
Always offer 24 hours for those who like to digest the information and then come back to ask questions, this often enables smarter discussions and follow up workstreams.
If you have not presented in this style before, expect it to land well quickly or be something many feel they will require time to digest and then come back with questions.
Best of luck presenting your company vision and supporting company-wide strategy and remember to ask for feedback and insights to improve for the follow-up sessions.
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