Create a new vision
Once Dutton had the people and products in place, it was time to
start moving everyone back toward profitability, and to do that,
Mattson needed a new vision.
“It’s not only an execution in the now, but also an eye on
the future because without building that future, that company dies,” he says.
He hired outside consultants to help him and his team focus on
overall corporate wellness and not get caught up in only keeping
the patient alive.
“Their task was to make sure they were pulling us out on regular
intervals so we could then go through a revisioning process,” Dutton
says. “That process was basically centered around mapping the situation today, understanding the dynamics of our competitors and our
market analysis — looking at where we thought the market would be
20 years from now, building in white space of where the opportunities
were, and from there, building in a set of strategies and principles that
mapped into the mission.”
During this vision process, collaboration was key.
“When you’re dealing with a collaborative style and a collaborative environment, you work hard to get most of that discussion out
so people get it out on the table and understand the objectives,”
Dutton says. “Then you drive toward a decision.”
Let the team work through the process, and often in the process,
you’ll see the direction slowly appear, so you try to align the team
toward that direction, but sometimes, you have to make an executive decision.
“If it gets circular or starts to move away from the problem, it’s time
for a decision, and you either bring the team to the decision or you say,
‘Look, this is the decision. Are we OK with it? OK, good, let’s go,’” he
says.
Even after you make that decision, you need to make sure everyone has said what’s on his or her mind.
“You make those decisions, you say, ‘OK, this is the decision. Are
there any emotions on the table about this?’” he says. “If you bring
up that emotion now, you’ll talk about it more. It may not change it,
but at least that person really has clarity about where they are and
how to operate in the team.”
By asking these questions and opening up discussion, you’re more
likely to succeed.
“The more inclusion you have, the more alignment there naturally is,” Dutton says. “You have to have a set of leaders that understand that decisions are made for the enterprise, and they have to
execute them.”
