A friend does real estate projects, which I love hearing about. As we walk his sites, he tries to describe the end product. It’s hard to grasp what it will look like as I listen and look at the incomplete construction. He recently began getting renders, and he showed me one of the final version of his current project. I got it right away. The rendering brought his words to life and filled in all the gaps in two seconds. We discussed how helpful that rendering was for someone like me, and he shared an insight: it’s also been helpful for his workers and vendors. They understand what he’s aiming for now, and they make better decisions on their own that align with that vision rather than constantly ask him questions.

This past week I had a conversation with an early founder who’s building a software company. We’ve been working on his one-page strategic plan for the last few weeks. It includes his vision, mission, values, target market, three-year-goal, annual goals, quarterly goals, and quarterly projects. It’s essentially a roadmap that measures progress. It details where the founder wants to go, how he’ll get there, and what he needs to be working on this quarter and this year. The founder rolled out the plan to his team and got an interesting response from a team member: “I don’t feel like an employee anymore. I feel like an owner now, and I know exactly where we’re going and what I need to be doing.”

The founder was surprised that a simple one-page document was so illuminating. Having been a founder, I knew exactly what he meant. I also knew what he was missing. I reminded him that founders have more background knowledge about their market and where the company is heading than anyone else on the team. It’s all in the founder’s head. He’s been thinking about it nonstop. It’s clear to him. It makes sense to him. Other team members’ knowledge is full of gaps. Laying it all out in a simple way fills the gaps, making clear to everyone what’s so clear to the founder. It can be a rendering, a one-page strategic plan, or something else. If it connects the dots for other people, the outcome should be the same.

These two conversations were independent and about different industries, but the founders’ conclusions were the same. It’s important for founders to empower teams by painting a clear picture of where they’re going and how they plan to get there!