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No matter how experienced your team is or how like-minded your team members are, personal feelings and personal goals can often interfere with teamwork and collaboration. This is where team vision statements come into play. They’re effective at aligning individuals toward single (or multiple) goals.
In addition, given how widespread remote work has become, team vision statements have become essential tools to keep all team members engaged. And when team members are more engaged with their work, they’re more productive and profitable—and happier.
More on why you need to write a team vision statement
The performance of individual team members can drop over time due to lack of cohesion and identification with goals. Very few people can stay passionate and inspired throughout a project without morale dips interfering with their workflow. That’s where writing a simple team vision statement at the beginning of a new project can help keep everyone stay focused. If your team loses sync at any time, you can revisit the statement to remind everyone “why” you’re doing what you’re doing. Thus, a team vision statement can have several crucial benefits, including:
- Improved commitment and agency of individual team members
- Increased creativity and out-of-the-box thinking
- Improved energy and moment-to-moment engagement
- Better teamwork and trust among coworkers
- Encouragement of proactive problem solving and development
- Improved quality of final product and client satisfaction
How to write an inspiring team vision statement
As for how to write a vision statement and what exactly to include in one, here are six tips for creating vision statements that will inspire everyone on your team to work harder and more collectively.
1. Make your statement a team effort
As its name might suggest, your team vision statement should be written in a team environment with all your coworkers present. This will ensure that everyone is satisfied with the final statement and that each member of your team has the opportunity to pitch in. To accomplish this, organize a semi-formal remote meeting to talk about the things you’re all passionate about and want to advance. Every person on your team will have a different perspective on the project you’re working on, and their input will be invaluable.
2. Align your statement with your business model
To keep it as focused as possible, the statement you write should be closely aligned with the business model of your company. For example, if you’re an e-commerce business, your statement should probably involve sales and customer experience. And don’t make your team vision statement abstract or overly focused on fluffy phrasing without a clear goal in mind. Focus on writing a concise, actionable, and encouraging statement that will boost your team’s morale, instead of serving as a vague signpost no one will read.
3. Settle on a long-term goal
Your team vision statement should include a clear end-goal, which will serve as a goalpost for your team to aspire toward. Here are some of the most successful end-goals written by companies that have dominated the global market over the years:
- “A computer on every desktop” (Microsoft)
- “Refresh the world, make a difference” (Coca-Cola)
- “To provide access to the world’s information in one click” (Google)
These are ambitious but achievable goals, and they inspire workers into action. Your team should settle on a similar long-term goal to help spark productivity and team member engagement.
4. Use personal pronouns and actionable verbs
To make your team vision statement personable and identifiable, use pronouns like “us,” “we,” and “you” to give each member of the team a sense of belonging with the group. Also, use actionable verbs like “accelerate,” “pioneer,” and “revitalize” to give your statement the “oomph” it needs to encourage individuals to work harder than before. Don’t be afraid to use platforms such as Power Thesaurus to find different verbs, and then share them with your team members and settle on a select few. Pair them with personal pronouns, and you’ll be able to create a much more engaging and emotional team vision statement.
5. Make the statement highly visible
There’s no point in writing a team vision statement if it’ll be forgotten soon after it’s written. Depending on whether you work remotely or in a local office, put the team statement somewhere that it’s easy to see and come back to. This can be done through sticky notes, a blackboard, or even posters or notes in your remote work platform. Make the statement clearly visible so that your team members are unable to ignore it and you can return to it if your team hits any snags. Doing so will help team members refocus and remember why they’re a part of the team in the first place.
6. Leave room for revisions and improvements
Team vision statements exist as helpful additions to your workflow; they’re not meant to be taken as end-all-be-all rules for your team to follow. You can always revise and reformat your team statement if you agree that it’s not doing its job. To do this, simply organize another semi-formal meeting and talk about what’s wrong with the current vision statement. Your team will undoubtedly have useful feedback and thoughts on how to improve upon the existing team statement, so listen to their comments closely. Life is a learning experience, and the team vision statement you share is meant to evolve alongside your workflow. Always leave the door open for improvements.
Dorian Martin is a writer, editor, and education expert with degrees in computer science and mass communication, working closely with Get Good Grade writing service. Dorian is a passionate writer and content creator, working on articles, papers, and case studies in business development and digital marketing. He also contributes to an essay writing service for academic students in need of assistance with their studies. In his spare time, Dorian contributes to his blog and spends time learning about IT, marketing, and sales as much as possible.
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