Peter Senge’s holistic approach to organizational change created a leadership“movement” that I see echoed in many books, articles, posts… His book, The Fifth Discipline, The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization, and how-to Fieldbook, changed me! My memories of attending his conference and individual workshops are still clear and fresh, and his modeling of the principles- walking his talk – stuck!
The Learning Organization is based on 5 principles: Shared Vision, Mental Models, Team Learning, Systems Thinking, and Personal Mastery (look for blogs on each topic).
Shared Vision is defined as actively participating in creating shared pictures of the future – which include your goals, values and mission for the organization.
At one of Senge’s workshops, an executive of a small corporation some out, stating he really didn’t care about creating and implementing a shared vision, because it took a long time, and he was retiring in five years. Senge nodded, paused, and then started a non-judgmental inquiry / dialog something like this:
“Is your retirement funded by your company?”
“Mostly, yes.”
“What will your retirement look like without it?”
“Well, I‘d be strapped.”
“Does that make the long term financial wellbeing of your company
important to you?”
“Yeh, Of course!”
“So would that make your extra effort to guide your company to
ongoing financial success a top priority for you?”
And presto, the executive “got” the shared the vision of the conference and workshop – to continue to learn and improve his leadership skills and to apply them. Priceless!
Most organizations have an imposed vision or mission statement which leads to compliance, not commitment and engagement. Commitment and engagement happen when people are striving to accomplish something important to them – as the executive’s retirement was important to him.
The difference between compliance and commitment is evident in drivers in school zones with posted 25 mph speed limits.
Non-compliant drivers do not reduce speed and may even speed up, because independence, speed, control, or whatever is more important than someone else’s rules.
Grudgingly compliant drivers go 25, grumbling all the way because they didn’t make the rules, and there aren’t any kids around anyway.
Formally compliant drivers go 30, because you don’t get a ticket for 5 miles over the limit.
Genuinely compliant drivers go 25 because it’s the thing to do.
Committed drivers go slowly, regardless of the posted speed,
because they value children’s safety.
They share the “vision”.
REFLECT:
Which type is prevalent in your workplace? In your home? In other settings?
Which are you in each setting?
A Harvard leadership assessment revealed that leaders struggle the most with communicating an image of the future that draws others in – that speaks to what has heart and meaning for them. One leader made the values the vision (see the blog on Lee – a Transformational Leader). I call it “SWIFFT” messages. It stands for “So What’s In It For Them?” and I focus on it like a mantra – teaching, parenting, writing…
In my graduate leadership classes for the Capstone – the final written research paper – I provide my “vision / image” for their product: they are beaming while holding the final paper because
* they had fun researching a topic that deeply interested them
* they wrote something they are proud of and would like to share, especially with their grandchildren or… (one single student visualized sharing at national conferences about her research – which she continues to do!)
This has proven highly effective, and the quality of my students’ work almost
always surpasses their colleagues.
Guiding Inquiry:
Vision: What do we want to create together – and what does that look like?
Values: What does an outsider see us doing?
How can we want to get to the vision?
How do we want to behave with each other?
How do we want to regard our stakeholders?
What are lines we will not cross?
Goals: milestones along the way
My steps to co-create shared vision:
1. Set aside time to VISION the future. I create a vision board (Harvard studies show executives only spend 3% of their time doing this)
2. Plan Visioning Sessions for teams / staff:
* do an all-staff announcement about the intent / importance / desired outcomes of the sessions
ie I want to know what we want to create together – to set the direction for our future and to establish guidelines for decision making and resource allocation
* be clear that there will be a SERIES of sessions with recorded results that go directly to you (if you’re not in the group)
* give the process / sessions a name with some zest ie I used Teri’s Terrific Blogs (TTB) for visioning these posts
* create an easy atmosphere (I schedule sessions for lunch hour and provide lunch, play soft music)
* assure all understand inquiry, advocacy, and dialog for interacting in the sessions
* have a trained facilitator and a recorder for each group
* guide discussions with questions like
What do we want to create together?
What would make you proud to work here?
What makes you feel successful at your job?
How do we want to treat each other and our stakeholders?
What is our larger purpose?
What is our responsibility to our stakeholders?
What are our core values?
How are we contributing to the greater good?
How can we “up” our contribution?
What does our future look like?
3. Review and reflect on the results of each session and give immediate feedback to the group(s)
* appreciation for the time, effort, and openness
* specific reactions to the points ie I hadn’t thought about sharing as a core value before, and I think it is a great addition to our purpose. Let’s explore this more deeply
4. When a “shared meaning” platform is reached, have a session to prioritize the elements – limiting them to 5-10
5. Have a session to image the top elements: what would it look like?
6. Create an image and circulate it for feedback / revision / improvement.
7. Finalize the vision.
When facilitating visioning, watch for these types and transform them into positive and meaningful visions:
Negative visions tell us what we don’t want to create:
I want to stop, discontinue, get rid of…
Means over Ends visions make quantities most important:
how much money, numbers, quotas, market share…
Competitive visions are about beating / winning:
over competitors, products, teams…
APPLY:
Create a personal vision and vision board.
Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline, The Art & Practice of the Learning
Organization, Doubleday, New York, 1990, 2006.
