Leaders who convey a strong vision are seen as more effective in several important areas than those who convey a weaker vision. Our research shows that a strong vision is correlated with
• the ability to lead change
• being dynamic
• competence in strategic planning
• being farsighted
• inspiring commitment
• being original
• having a strong executive image
These are leadership competencies that are particularly important during times of complexity, change, and crisis.
At the individual level, having vision is often cited as important or even measured as a valued competency by many organizations. As a leadership characteristic, having vision usually entails the ability to come up with a direction and the ability to sell that direction. But many people mistakenly believe that they don’t have the ability to develop a compelling vision for their organizations, teams, or projects. Many of our senior-level program participants tell us that they aren’t “good at vision” or that “you either have the vision or you don’t.” When they see how we have demystified the process of creating a vision, they are genuinely thankful to have a new approach to an essential but often vexing leadership process.
The remainder of this guidebook takes you through steps to develop or refine your vision.
Five Building Blocks
Earlier in this guidebook we note that the content of your vision establishes an image of your organization: Is it strong? Headed in a good direction? A good place to work? Involved in something that is important?
A close look at our research reveals that a compelling vision includes five content elements:
• the big idea
• the values
• the story
• the growth factor
• the change factor
These five elements are not just important for the overall organizational vision, which is typically set by the senior leadership team. They are just as relevant for team leaders, project managers, group directors, and even individual contributors. Here’s why: Success in today’s organizations requires some level of shared direction, alignment, and commitment among people in the organization. The more complex or broad-based the work, the more reliant we are on collaborative processes of leadership.
In fact, at CCL we believe that direction, alignment, and commitment are the tasks of leadership. Direction is agreement on goals; alignment is coordination of work; commitment is dedication to the success of the organization. In many contexts, the starting point—direction—comes from a leader’s vision.
Whatever the size or scope of your work, leadership begins with defining and connecting to a vision.
The Big Idea
A colleague of ours was studying effective teams and was observing surgery at a regional hospital. One day when a heart bypass surgery was completed, a janitor came into the operation suite. Our colleague said hello and asked the man about his job. His reply? “Me and the doc, we help save lives.”
The janitor understood the big idea of the hospital, but more important, he was personally connected to it.
When a vision connects at a deep, fundamental, heart-filled place, people throughout the organization see that their work matters. The big idea provides overall direction to employees and guides their work toward long-term goals. It represents the idealized state of the organization. It speaks to the impact the work and the people have on others in the world. In our research, we refer to this as an “ideological goal.”
You may not be in the business of saving lives on a day-to-day basis, but what is the fundamental, enduring ideal on which your work is built? What is the big-picture purpose for your company, department, or project team? What inspires, motivates, and instills pride? The company’s mission statement may be a good place to look for the ideological goal.
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