I’ve been doing a lot of work with companies recently around their vision, purpose and core values/beliefs. I suspect that the trend arises because companies feel that they have rebuilt from the ravages of the GFC and are now in a position to think about a future beyond just getting through.

When your focus is survival, there’s no question about your priorities. But when your survival is assured, the immediate pressure comes off and priorities start to compete as the range of opportunities expands.

In the visioning process we always end up with the three biggest ideas, the Most Important Goals (MIG's). There should be a direct relationship between our vision, our strategies and our big goals. Achieving our goals will deliver our strategies and they will get us to our vision. We spend a lot of time with people testing the strategic logic, and making sure that the goals are clear and relevant.

The other thing we do is look for initiatives that don’t contribute to the goals. If they don’t fit with your top priority, drop them. That’s what focus means – stop doing low value stuff so you can concentrate on the most important things. The key to great results is aligning your activities with your goals, and the key to do that is to do less of the stuff that doesn’t contribute. Great companies are great at saying no.

On a positive note, clear goals help you answer the question “what now”? When you’ve achieved something or completed a task, your mind consciously or unconsciously asks what’s next. It’s much easier when you have a #1 goal, because you know that the answer will be something that contributes to that goal, as opposed to fluffing around on something easy but unimportant. In that sense you don’t have to decide anything (which your brain hates doing anyway).

The answer is simple: make the boat go faster.