[0:00] David: All right we’re going to go ahead and get started. And this morning we’re going to talk about future pictures. So, we have a few handouts in the handout section that you guys can download at some point during this, they’ll make more sense as we go along. But Eric and I are going to give you an overview of how we use future picture statements, future picture narratives in our business, the buzzword in the industry these days is storytelling, and this is really how we incorporate you know storytelling into our growth plans for ourselves and for our customers.
If you guys are a current customer of ours, you you know that these future pictures kind of you know paint a picture of what, you know, what success looks like in the future and some of the journey to get there. So we’re gonna go over some details on how to create these for your business, for your, I think in in our example we have a you know personal example, you can incorporate these into into your personal life as well. And again thanks for jumping in this morning. Bob asked to, I’ll mute you Bob, no problem, or unmute you, and we encourage dialogue, you guys post in chat if you’d like to be unmuted or contribute to the conversation, we’re going to go through these slides and then we’ll we’ll open up the floor to open conversations. So with that, Eric Zoromski, take it away.
[1:36] Eric: Thanks David. Yeah, Bob, everybody should be muted for now and like David said, we’ll open up microphones and cameras at the tail end if anybody wants to jump in and and say hello and ask questions. But as you know, as David started, future pictures are a really important part of the work that we do for our clients. They’re also a critical part of the work that we do for our own business, and we found it to be a really strong process and technique to get you know a team of people on the same
page and that’s really ultimately the goal of this.
[2:16] Eric: So, a future picture tells a story. David mentioned you know the buzzword of “storytelling,” and you know storytelling is important because it works you know. It’s been working for thousands of years, and you know a future picture is a story about you know where you want your business to be or you know where you want to be
personally, at some point in time in the future. Whether that’s months from now, years from now, but it creates a common vision of where you’re trying to head either as an individual or as a team. And it’s really designed to get you what you want, you know, I think many of the people on this call would put themselves into the visionary category. And you know one of the toughest things about you know having a visionary brain is getting other people to see what you see, and that’s really what future pictures can can help you do.
[3:22] Eric: So, you know what are some of the applications of this? You know certainly growth and strategic planning, product development and launch, so if you
have a vision in your head for a product but you’ve struggled to get it out of your brain and into application, it’s a great thing to use, organizational change — again you know leaders have a vision of where they want the organization to go but one of the toughest things there is to do is to get everybody to understand that. Looking at operational investments or continuous improvement, and we’ll share a few examples there later on. Process development, personal growth and actually I put in golf. I think Bob Gross is on the call and he joined us out at golf course here in the southern Wisconsin area where we did our our leadership or growth session, and that’s why the example that I’m going to use today is about my personal golf game, I figured that’s the best way for me to to articulate a vision in my head that I’ve struggled to achieve.
[4:45] Eric: So what are the raw materials of a future picture? They really start with a smart goal, and we’ll talk a little bit about what the smart stands for, if you don’t know.
Taking a look at really understanding what are your desired outcomes and then what are the actions or the drivers that you need to do in order to get the outcome that you want and make this future picture real? So, you know it’s really important to understand you know what are the things that you can do, what are the levers that you can pull in order to get what you want as a as an owner or a leader? And then ultimately a time horizon, unless it has a time horizon, it’s not really real. And the idea is that you’re gonna go back and pull out this future picture you know at your time horizon, so if that’s three months you do it in three months, if it’s a year, you do it a year. And you read it and you wanna feel like you accomplished a lot of the things that you laid out in that future picture, again either as individually or as a team.
[5:48] Eric: So smart goals, I’m guessing a lot of you are pretty familiar with this: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. Should all be pretty straightforward, you want to make sure that it’s very specific, that you can measure it, that it’s realistic — you know sometimes we see unrealistic goals, you want to make sure that it’s something that you can reach, maybe it’s a stretch goal, but you don’t want to be ridiculous. It’s got to be relevant to what you’re trying to accomplish and you know it’s got to have a time framework to it.
[6:29] Eric: So, I am somewhat of an avid golfer, as many of you know, and I’ve struggled on a few holes at this golf course where we held our leadership summit. So my smart goal, for example and for my real life, is that by October 31st of 2021, so that’s my time bound you know, my five round scoring average on holes 2, 3 and 16 at Hidden Glen will be bogey or less. So I’m working towards this goal, I actually checked today and I am solid on 2 and 16, and 3 continues to be my nemesis. So I’m two-thirds of the way to my goal, about halfway through the time horizon that I established for myself. Here was the scorecard that I shared, you can see the the highlighted ones, and yes, for you data nerds out there, I actually have a system that tracks every shot that I take, you know I spend a lot of time digging into that when I should be working.
[7:35] Eric: So, looking at you know kind of the ingredients of this, we’ve talked about the smart goal, what are your desired outcomes? This is really what you want, and the important thing here is that outcomes are results. They’re not something that you can demand or that you can change once they’ve happened. A lot of businesses put a lot of focus on their p and l and what was their p and l last month. That’s an outcome. Once it’s happened there’s nothing you can do to change it, unless you’re a creative accountant. You know it’s something that’s happened in the past, we would call it a lagging indicator, it doesn’t really, it’s not an accurate predictor of the future
because it’s already happened, you know. So when I looked at my desired outcomes for my golf-related future picture you know, I want fewer double bogeys plus less penalty strokes and a stress-free experience, because having stress and golf is not a good thing and I tend to have a lot of it.
[8:53] Eric: So then moving on to the actions and the drivers, these are the things that you’re going to do in order to achieve your outcomes, you know they’re the levers you can pull, they’re the actions you can take to deliver on what you want. And ultimately that’s what this is about, it’s what you want, it’s what your team wants, it’s making progress you know with a common vision. So basics for mel relax and breathe — I tend to hold my breath, I tend to pick stupid shots, I tend to try to be a hero — all of those things, along with reframing expectations, which I think is the attainable part, you know, are important parts of the the actions or the drivers that I identified during this future picture.
[9:45] Eric: And then ultimately you know the time horizon, pretty straightforward, when are you going to start? You know, when are you going to you know kind of go back and do the the second blessed reading of the future picture? And then you know an important aspect of this is you should really report out on it to someone, that’s going to help hold you accountable. Again, whether that’s the team, or if you’re doing this for yourself, you’ll have a coach, have a friend, have somebody that you’re going to say, “Hey, I said I was going to do this, let’s read this together and let’s kind of evaluate the progress that I’ve made on this situation.”
[10:33] Eric: So here’s my smart goal, and you know when we do growth plans with our clients we have what we refer to as the blessed reading, you know, usually David does it. David, I don’t know if you want to read my smart goal or if you want me to — or, my future picture, if you want me to do it, but you have the the papal voice that— [Laughs]
[10:59] David: Sure, I’ll jump in here. “So on August 17, 2021, I kicked off my new Good-Bye Double Bogey Campaign with a clear goal of lowering my five round scoring average on my nemesis holes 2, 3 and 16 to bogey or less. I tackled these holes with an entirely new strategy and attitude. Led by my desire for stress-free golf, I successfully reframed my expectations for these holes. Bogey is great, anything better is a bonus, anything worse will average out. I simplified my approach to these holes by making smarter, more thoughtful club and shot selections with safety and penalty avoidance as the primary influencers of my actions. I didn’t try to go pin hunting or be a hero on any shots. I learned to enjoy these holes despite their inherent challenges.”
[12:01] David: There’s more, I went on mute. “While my effort is a lifelong challenge, on Halloween 2021, I milestoned my progress. I’m happy to say that double boxes are gone from my five round average” — is that a real word or is that? — “Arccos score card for Hidden Glen. In early November, I proudly reported my progress to all the 2021 leading growth summit attendees. Looking back, I’m proud of the progress I’ve made, thrilled by the clarity of focus, and excited for the future.”
[12:37] Eric: Thanks David, nice job. So that’s my example future picture. And I know that for me it paints a very vivid picture in my head of what I need to do. Reading this again, or hearing David read it again, makes me realize that yes I indeed tried a hero shot on 3 the other day and got away with it, but probably shouldn’t have. So again it’s you know this is just an example obviously one that’s probably not directly applicable to everyone here, but I did want to illustrate the fact that you know yes you can use it you know in business, you can also use it to help you know impact you know personal goals that you may have. But again, the the sequence goes you know basically: work through your smart objectives or smart goal, you know figure out what your objectives are, work through and determine what actions or drivers that you’re going to to to focus on, put a time horizon to it, and then take the time to actually write the the story so that you know three months, six months, twelve months from now you can go back and read it and determine whether or not you’ve made progress. And it really forces you to think about what it is you’re trying to accomplish and ultimately what you want, from a business or personal perspective.
[14:12] Eric: So this is one of the the worksheets that is available in the handouts tab. I don’t remember, it should be up in the towards the upper right of your screen. This is one that you can download, you know I would encourage you to to use it, I’d encourage you to you know get out a good old you know your favorite pen or number two pencil and and you know work on your cursive a little bit and hand write it because it makes you really really think and makes it something that’s that’s more tactile instead of you know staring at the screen all the time. But really starting with the things I just talked about: what do i want, what’s my desired outcome, what are the things that I’m going to do, when am I going to do it by? And ultimately that can quickly roll into into your smart goal and then the back side of this worksheet you know has a little bit of a guide up at the top to get you started and then you have some blank lines for you to go ahead and craft your own future picture. So that worksheet is available within the handout section.
[15:25] Eric: I wanted to talk a little bit about another tool that we use that we call a focused future picture. Most of the future pictures that we develop with the clients that we work with at the Vx Group span a year, but there are often times you know, initiatives that arise you know within the course of working with with someone that you know really requires its own focused future picture, and we found this tool to be you know very successful in taking you know significant initiatives within a business and providing a picture for the team so that ultimately you can begin you know a more focused, structured execution of something that’s really important to your business. Why why is Wile E. Coyote on there? Well, I just kind of sanitized a focused future picture and our favorite you know sample company is of course the Acme company, makers of you know all things designed to kill roadrunners, but instead blow up coyotes. So I’ll walk you through a little bit about this, how this works and this might be a little bit tough to see or read, and I’m certainly not going to read the whole thing, but basically you know this is Wile E. Coyote wanting to to go into the e-commerce world you know the Acme corporation figures coyotes are getting computers so they wanted to you know roll and launch a phase one of an e-commerce program. So it walks through, you know and again looking at this on 12.31.2021, so we’re looking forward in this case you know four or five months and the idea would be on you know probably not going to do it on New Year’s Eve, but somewhere around that time frame to pull this out, read it, highlight the things that you’re proud of, highlight the things that you still are you still think are a work in progress or maybe have changed. But this is an example future picture. It is also available in the handouts section as well as a pdf. If you want this as an editable template you can just shoot me an email and I can send it to you so that you can edit and create one on your own. So again starting with the future picture and the future picture narrative, and then what makes this this one a little bit more unique is it extends into what we call “we wills,” which is you know it’s really that action section. We refer to them as “we wills,” so we will you know clearly define, document and communicate our five or three year vision for our e-commerce program; we will define short-term and long-term functional resource requirements, you know et cetera et cetera, et cetera. So it’s taking that future picture concept and going through and determining you know what are the actions that are required in order to make that future picture a reality. So that template is in the handout section as well and available for you to use in any way that you see fit, like I said if you want an editable version, just send me a quick note and I will send it off to you.
[19:03] Eric: And that’s it, you know, this is a pretty tight topic for today. I think it’s one of the most important and one of the most valuable things that we’ve you know built and integrated into our business over the last 10 years and I’m happy to share it, excited to share it, I’d love to see you know all of you you know figure out applications to use it because it can be game changing as far as a very simple tool that you can use you know personally and professionally to drive you know significant and you know investments and opportunities within your business. So, like we usually do, David do you want to seem, or I got it right here, we can enable microphones and cameras if anybody wants to jump on and say hi, ask questions. Adam looks like you know put a put a goal into the chat as far as gaining additional manufacturing and office space. It’s specific, you know, my question would be there, would be is it time bound? So I don’t know Adam if you’re gonna jump on or not but you know, does that have a timeline to it as well?
[20:25] David: Yeah and I would add you know, it seems like that might roll up to another another goal right so the reason Adam may need that additional space might roll up to another goal as well. But thanks Adam for contributing.
[20:46] Adam: Yeah, sure. Time-bound it’s kind of up in the air with our economics and our politics the way they are and the way building materials and costs like that, right now we’re researching some of that stuff. It is definitely measurable, it’s attainable and it’s certainly relevant. It’s a matter of making some decisions and weighing out or analyzing the safest option, the least risk with the biggest reward obviously. Building a building now that you know costs 700 to a million dollars at 7200 square feet may only be worth 600,000 in five years, who knows? And real estate, it doesn’t help that either I don’t think you know, even in the commercial market, I think real estate is just through the roof, it’s overpriced, it’s so it’s a tough thing to figure out. Maybe, I will say the smart goal will help us it’ll tease out better ideas, maybe it’s a less permanent solution here, maybe it’s a maybe it’s a part-time leased space until things settle a little bit or whatever it might be, but it does tease out a lot of the the ideas and thoughts. The only other piece I’d have is this future picture to me is really close to affirmations, it’s basically mind and thought alignment to reach a goal, you have to be in the right frame of mind to reach any goal, period. And the more you tell yourself you’re successful, it’s the dress for success type stuff you know, that your thought process and your psyche changes when you’re when you’re dressed for success. I’m a firm believer in that, if you understand just being able to control your thoughts will get you to reach your goals a whole lot better.
[23:13] Eric: Yeah, while you were chatting Adam, I you know started to think it’s kind of one thing that I don’t really emphasize in here but I think a big part of this is also you know potentially aspirational and I think that’s you know if you if you had a really, if you worked with your team on a really great you know future picture for additional office space and manufacturing and start to paint a picture of you know what that that looks like and and what you need to do to get there you know that should be aspirational, it should be exciting, it should be you know engaging to the team and I think that’s where where you see these things be be most successful. You know if your future picture is not, you know it doesn’t always have to be exciting but it should be you know aspirational and inspirational to a degree.
[24:02] David: Yeah we actually did one for Adam’s business as it relates to kind of specifiers and you know architects, if you remember Adam, it’s like we find them very useful for how may we do something you know, what would it look like if we did go down this road, what would what would success look like? And it obviously doesn’t cover every single detail or tactic always but it paints a picture of if we went down this path, what does it look like to the organization, what does it look like to the team and other leaders, so.
[24:36] Adam: I think it helps add vision. Many people, whether they’re leaders, executives, doesn’t matter, they’re not necessarily visionaries. I’m a super visionary, I chase shiny shit for a living you know. And sometimes it’s really hard to get people on board to understand where you are because you may be, vision-wise, light years ahead of where they are. They don’t even know how you got to this vision. I think smart goals and the future picture would help share that, you call it aspirational, alignment, I think it will align team members to understand your vision.
[25:24] David: Yeah it’s a visionary whiplash prevention, right? It helps bring people—
[25:27] Adam: Many Indians make light work so the quicker and the easier it is to get them aligned means that load gets taken off of your shoulders somewhat, especially if they’re inspired by the vision.
[25:40] Eric: Yep. Bob Gross — Bob Gross shared a really personal smart goal which is, I don’t know if he wrote it while we were talking about this or wrote it previously based on having shared some of this, but that’s awesome. i’m not really sure whether he intentionally wrote “to be a burden on his children in his old age,” because—
[26:05] David: He did. [Laughs]
[26:06] Eric: If he did it sounds just like Bob, but but that’s awesome and you know we’d be happy to to help you check in on any of that Bob, just like you’re gonna check in on my golf game, but that’s awesome and very, very specific very, very measurable and I sincerely hope that future picture helps with that. And mike mike shared you know about breaking yearly goals into quarterly goals, you know really and keeping them in front of them at executive meetings. You know, certainly really, really good feedback. You know I think we’ve really gone to quarterly as well for much our kind of assessment and planning for our business. I’ve found personally that months just go way too dang fast. I mean if you’re micromanaging monthly activities, you’re quickly gonna gonna fall behind, in my opinion, and you know quarterly you know gives you a little more normalized snapshot of things and what’s going on and you know gives you some things that are a little bit more meaty that you can try and tackle within a quarter, and then yeah. I used to say it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen five years from now, you know, now it’s it’s difficult to predict what’s going to happen you know tomorrow or next month, let alone you know five years, so totally agree, we’ve got to always, always keep adapting.
[27:50] Eric: Anybody else, any other thoughts or questions today? You know if not it’s a short, tight topic, like I said, one that I think is is critically important. If you’d like any help with this personally, professionally, you want to do a future picture for your business, you know we’re always here to help, you want us to be your accountability coach on your goals or help you with anything, just let us know, we’re pretty passionate about you know this process and this pretty simple tool to help you move your business and your life forward. So, with that, we’re gonna wrap up in a half hour, so I gave you all you know a half hour of phone time in your Thursday morning and I appreciate all of you joining and look forward to talking to you soon. [28:48]
