Where there is no vision, the people perish.
Proverbs: 29:18
Clearly, the concept of visionary leadership is not new! While there are numerous quotes / explanations / definitions / traits / profiles presented on the topic, the key components are simple:
* have a deeply compelling / desired vision – outcome (a passion)
* have an ability to clearly communicate the vision
* have an ability to get others to share the vision
* have an ability to motivate others to take action to make it happen
* have the skills to manage the performance to accomplish the vision –
or have someone that performs that function for you
What I don’t see addressed in any information on vision is the nature of a vision.
Vision means
* sight
* a mental image
*a visual representation of an achieved desire
In other words, how would your vision LOOK when it’s achieved?
In her simple guidebook, Creative Visualization, Shakti Gawain provides the how-to for personal visioning. She identifies the three stages as
(1) setting agoal,
(2) forming a mental image of the desired outcome,
(3) continually returning to the image.
I often use this approach with my coaching and mentoring clients.
For instance, this week, a client reported she was experiencing fear and doubt about her abilities in a new situation. Her chattering “monkey mind” was full of undermining and sabotaging messages. I suggested she see a big banana tree in the distance, loaded with ripe bananas. When her monkey mind started chattering, she simply told her “monkey” about the tree, extolling the sweetness of the ripe bananas, etc. and then watched it scamper off to feast on the fruit. She saw the monkey in the tree, gobbling up bananas, grinning and waving to her. The mind chatter stopped.
While visualizing for personal results is a transferrable skill to creating a leadership vision, getting “buy-in” from others isn’t automatic. One magic key is to co-create the vision with the team. In one of my consulting jobs, this was the key!
Bill had just been appointed Director of the statewide Department of Revenue, which was responsible for bringing in millions of dollars, mostly through corporate compliance and audits. The auditing staff was highly experienced and educated, having both attorney and CPA credentials.
Bill had a full agenda for improved performance, including new policies and procedures, new software, etc. The staff wasn’t buying in, and he asked me to facilitate a 3 day team building retreat to get them on track. I had worked with Bill when he was the statewide Director of the IRS, and I knew him to be an excellent leader, communicator, team builder, and motivator. So before agreeing to the retreat, I asked for time to perform an informal needs assessment at no charge.
I scheduled a half day in his conference room to meet with staff individually for 15 minutes each. After three interviews, I knew I was being stonewalled. So I informed interviewee #4 that that his group was scheduled for a 3 day weed-end team building retreat with me. They could avoid spending a weekend working if their “informal leader” would chat with me about what was really going on (see the blog on dealing with Informal Leaders).
When he came in, I was able to motivate him to “tell the truth” which was:
* Bill was pushing for changes to improve the division’s performance
* they didn’t want to make the changes
* Bill was a gubernatorial appointee, so he would only be there as long as the present governor was in office
* they were permanent government employees
* all they had to do was stonewall and outlast him, and they wouldn’t have to make the changes
Recapping with Bill that afternoon, I told him there was good news and bad news. The good news was he had a unified team. The bad news was they were unified against him. He didn’t need team building: he needed a SHARED vision for improved efficiency and effectiveness!
Upon my suggestion, he scheduled a half-day visioning session which I facilitated, following an outline like this (Because I custom designed for each consulting situation, I don’t have a template to share with you – just a memory of how the session went):
(1) an icebreaker Whiteboard and Discussion:
(2) what do you like about your job?
(3) what division achievements are you most proud of?
(4) what impact do you see your work having on the state / its residents?
(5) what frustrates you about working in the division?
(6) what have you wanted to do in the division that you haven’t been able to do?
(7) At this point, I asked Bill to respond to each “desire” from #6 – with whether or not he could / would support it.
Here, Bill’s leadership began to shine. He drew comparisons between their desires and his “vision” – such as upgrading software — to perform the streamlined functions they both wanted. I sat back and enjoyed the show until they had the agreed upon goals. Then I stepped back in to facilitate their co-creating the vision / image. Priceless.
Co-creating a new vision often means changing a corporate culture, and in one of my leadership roles, this was the case. I was brought in to “turn around” the statewide Child Support Enforcement Division, where the culture was all about enforcement. We switched the focus – with a vision that all children received the support they deserved. We needed a “picture” to guide us to different priorities and behaviors.
I hired a photographer to brainstorm with me about emphasizing support over enforcement. We created a simple new logo (the i in child was dotted with a red heart):
Child
SUPPORT
The photographer found a vintage black and white photo of six diverse toddlers backs – standing on an overstuffed couch – holding themselves up on the back of it. They were undressed, and we covered their bottoms with a black bar that had large white lettering,
You’re Their Bottom Line
After holding focus groups with EVERY staff member, we adopted both. The “bottom line” image became the opener for all presentations – from legislative budgeting sessions to TV interviews.
The images represented the vision of all children receiving the support they need. With them prominently displayed in the office, we moved to shifting priorities and resources, creating new policies and procedures, and overhauling ALL correspondence templates to focus on supporting children.
It was an ambitious vision, and it led us to successfully lay the foundation for wage withholding. Today 75% of all children receiving financial support from an absent parent get it through wage withholding. Priceless.
To learn how visuals were used at Harley Davidson, read the blog on Vision – Willie G.
Creative Visualization, Shakti Gawain, New World Library; 40th Anniversary edition (December 13, 2016).
