A leader looks to the past, the present and the future in order to establish and shape an inspiring vision. This vision paves the way for how the organization will motivate its employees to develop and execute its business plan.
“It’s integral to involve the people in your organization right in the thick of it — build teams and encourage contribution,” says Ana Mederos, the CEO of Palmetto General Hospital, which is a part of Tenet Healthcare Corporation. “To achieve your vision, you have to have a work force behind you that is motivated, engaged and commitment to shared goals.”
Smart Business spoke with Mederos about how to identify and achieve a clear vision for business planning and success.
How can business leaders create inspiring visions for their organizations?
In my experience, it takes a team of many individuals to create and achieve a shared vision for an organization. Together, this team must consistently answer these key questions: Who are we? What have we accomplished? What are our strengths? What is our realistic potential?
These are powerful questions that pave the way for determining where an organization is and where it can go.
How does a vision influence the development and implementation of a business plan?
Like a road map, an organization’s vision creates a beginning point and a final destination; the business plan creates the exact path to get there. The business plan sets the goals and objectives and the strategies and tactics to achieve them. I compare this process to putting together a winning Super Bowl team. If your vision is to win the Super Bowl, how do you get there? You have to recruit the very best managers, coaches and football players that share the same passion and desire to be the best. Leadership identifies the best players and then invests in training those with drive and potential.
As a hospital, we have the vision to be the preferred place for health care in our local community. We want people to think of Palmetto General Hospital first, especially for heart care and open heart surgery. For example, just a few years ago our goal was to develop a leading cardiovascular open heart surgery program. To create our program and bring it to the level that we envisioned it to be, we had to recruit cardiothoracic surgeons and entire medical and nursing teams that had the right experience and commitment to quality. Throughout the hospital, we’ve created a team of medical staff leaders, administrative staff, directors and employees that embrace this vision and fit the direction in which our hospital is moving.
