All leaders in the business must develop and communicate a concise, but purposeful vision. It is not just the responsibility of the CEO and other senior executives to communicate where the company is going, but all leaders in the organization. Vision is about communicating what you want to achieve, and where you are going in the future in every division, department and team.
A well-developed vision challenges and inspires. The strategy when combined with vision commits actual resources to goals. The vision should be easy to understand and can be used to connect your daily activities to long term goals.
Who is responsible?
From the CEO to the first line supervisor on the factory floor, all leaders need a vision. Of course, the first line supervisor’s vision must support the CEO. The supervisor’s view of the future is most likely around meeting production goals and employee safety, while the CEO is built around annual growth, capital investments and innovation. Both views are critical since they provide a road map for team members to follow.
As a leader, you should consider the following:
- The importance of sharing the future. What is the point in developing a great vision of the future if you don’t communicate it throughout the organization? Share it at all levels, talk about it as you walk around, and ask your team about their thoughts.
- Leaders set the course. Leaders throughout the business establish the priorities and workload for the team. Leaders are not those who just have titles like Manager, Director and Vice President. A leader is anyone who takes ownership of their tasks to fulfill the vision of the company. Leaders enforce high standards and adherence to company values. Successful leaders see the vision through to mission accomplishment even in the face of great adversity.
- Will unite the team. A properly developed and communicated vision can unite a team to do great work together. There is no comparison when a team believes in their leaders, which can translate into additional effort to accomplish the mission.
- A lack of vision is disaster. If you have no vision, then you have no direction. Your team will lack motivation and will not understand where they are headed. A lack of vision means mistakes will be made in decision making and implementation.
Your vision communicates to the team on how you will accomplish the greater goals of the business. It can rally and motivate your team into one single purpose and give life to goal accomplishment. Without a vision, you have no roadmap for your organization, and you can become lost to distractions.
“A leader’s role is to raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.”
— David Gergen, political commentator
How are you communicating your vision?
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Copyright 2017 – Stephen McLain