TOWARD A SHARED VISION

As leadership teams assemble annually to assess their firm's progress and plan its future, they often start by hammering out certain policy statements that are preambles to preparing the next year's business plan. They may spend numerous hours reaching a consensus regarding the firm's vision or purpose, mission, and guiding principles or values. In whatever form these statements take, they are important and useful in attempting to communicate to both clients and employees what the firm stands for. A well-developed shared vision statement could be several sentences, a paragraph, or a page in length. It should speak to the broader issues of technologies, geography, growth rates, firm size, or professional opportunities. It sets the tone and climate for the development of an effective 3-5 year long-range strategic plan, which should be developed with input from as many of the key employees as possible. The best approach is to integrate the five management functions--marketing, technologies, human resources, finance, and operations--into one plan. A sidebar offers examples of vision statements.