Vision

[This essay is one of twelve lessons from the Lead Well leadership workshop.]

Leaders see what others don’t see.

Good leaders speak often about the future and how it will be better than the present.

When Disney World first opened, Mrs. Walt Disney was asked to speak at the grand opening because her husband, Walt, had recently died. She was introduced by a man who said, “Mrs. Disney, I just wish Walt could have seen this.” She stood up and said, “He did,” and sat down. (i)

Leaders “see” the future. Just as Walt Disney “saw” Disney World in his mind, long before it was actually built, leaders have a picture in their minds about what their organization can look like in the future, and, as Warren Bennis says, they are willing to “disturb the present in the service of a better future.”

Leaders must have vision

Vision is the sine qua non – the “without which nothing” – of leadership. It is the indispensable element. If you don’t have fresh vision for your organization you’re not leading; you may be managing but you’re not leading. Although you do not have to craft vision by yourself (it’s actually best to construct vision collaboratively), you are responsible for whether or not it is present in the organization.
So crafting vision is the first skill that we study.

The following statements underscore the importance of having fresh vision.

• The first basic ingredient of leadership is a guiding vision. The leader has a clear idea of what he or she wants to do and the strength to persist in the face of setbacks, even failures. Warren Bennis
• A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others do. Leroy Eims
• Most people don’t take the time to think systematically about the future. Leaders do. Burt Nanus

Why vision is important

1. Vision activates resources and motivates people.

Picture a raft that is drifting in the ocean with five healthy people onboard. Each person has an oar and is willing and able to row, but they’re inactive because they don’t know where the nearest land is. Until they determine the right direction, rowing would be futile and perhaps even counterproductive. Available resources are dormant because direction is unclear.

But when someone spots land, passive resources are activated and everyone works together to achieve a desirable future.

In like manner, most organizations have dormant resources that will remain latent until activated by fresh, credible vision. Most workers will function far below their capacity until they are smitten by a view of the future that exceeds the present.

Burt Nanus says, “There is no more powerful engine driving an organization toward excellence and long-range success than an attractive, worthwhile, and achievable vision of the future, widely shared.” (ii)

2. Vision creates alignment and unity.

Imagine how frustrating it would be for a group of people to try to put together a jigsaw puzzle if each person has a different picture in their mind of how the finished puzzle should look. It would be chaos. But if everyone sees the same end-product they can function as a unit and quickly complete the task.

In an organization, how is unity among workers developed and maintained?

There are numerous answers, but one thing is certain: unity will be elusive unless there is a clear vision of the future that is embraced by many. But when everyone is pulling the rope in the same direction, a wonderful sense of alignment develops.

3. Vision suggests measures of effectiveness.

Do you remember the incident in Alice in Wonderland where Alice is talking to the Cheshire Cat, who is perched up in a tree? Alice is a bit confused about her direction. She asks the cat:

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a great deal on where you want to go,” replies the Cheshire cat.
“I don’t much care where,” says Alice.
To which the feline replies, “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”

Many organizations share Alice’s dilemma. They really don’t know which way they want to go so they’ll never know if they’ve arrived.

But clear vision produces measurable goals. If your vision is to climb a mountain by a certain date, when the deadline comes you either have or haven’t. The old adage, “If you aim at nothing you will always hit it” is sad but true.

4. Vision creates a desirable future.

Covey reminds us that, “Vision is applied imagination. All things are created twice: first, a mental creation; second, a physical creation. The first creation is vision. (iii)

Leaders know how to visualize that which does not exist—the first creation—and then bring it into existence—the second creation.

For instance, Walt first created Disney World in his mind and then brought it into existence in Florida. President Kennedy envisioned an American walking on the moon and on July 16, 1969 at 2:56 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time, at 23.26° E and 0.41° N., Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon’s surface.
Crafting vision is not an attempt to foretell the future; it is an attempt to shape the future by planning action that will produce a desired future.

Einstein once said, “Nothing happens until something moves.” Leaders create momentum by crafting vision.

Vision is indispensable

Can an organization survive without vision?

Good question. The best answer I’ve seen comes from Burt Nanus: “Perhaps there are a few companies in such slowly changing industries that they can go on for years repeating the same tasks and experiences over and over again, caught in a sort of time warp in which habit, ritual, and good management are enough to sustain them for a time, perhaps even a long while. Eventually however, even the most stable organizations are touched by change, and then a visionary leader must come forward to show the new direction or all is lost.” (iv)

If you own a bar-b-que stand on Hwy. 9 (a “slow changing industry”) you might survive a long time without fresh vision, but most organizations will deteriorate without it.

What is vision?

To define vision we need to clarify the difference between mission and vision. Both are needed but they are different.

• Mission defines why the organization exists. It seldom changes and is usually never completed. It answers the question, “Why do we exist?”
• Vision gives the organization direction and defines its uniqueness (how it differs from other organizations with the same mission). It answers the question, “How will we fulfill our mission?” Vision is malleable and doable.

For instance:

The mission of every hospital is the same—provide healthcare for patients.
But the vision of each hospital will be unique.

• Serve as a multi-purpose regional hospital.
• Specialize in cancer research.
• Focus on the needs of children.

The mission of every home builder is the same—provide shelter for people.
But the vision of each home builder will be unique.

• Build custom homes in the 1.5 million dollar range.
• Build track homes with an average price of $110,000.
• Specialize in building energy efficient homes in Colorado.
• Specialize in building timber-frame homes.

Mission gives your organization general direction by defining what business you’re in. Vision provides specific direction and even distinguishes your organization from other, similar organizations. Mission is abstract; vision is concrete. Mission is usually never accomplished; vision is.

Having a clear mission is necessary but not sufficient. You must have viable vision.

Vision defined

Bill Hybels and Burt Nanus have crafted two great definitions of vision:

“Vision is a picture of the future that produces passion.” (Bill Hybels) (v)
“Vision is a realistic, credible, and attractive future for your organization.” (Burt Nanus) (vi)

Notice that both definitions use the term future. Vision is not a picture of the past—that is history, and it’s not a picture of the present—that’s reality. It’s a picture of the future.

According to Burt Nanus, characteristics of a good vision include:

• It is appropriate for the organization and for the times.
• It sets standards of excellence and reflects high ideals.
• It clarifies purpose and direction.
• It inspires enthusiasm and encourages commitment.
• It is well articulated and easily understood.
• It reflects the uniqueness of the organization.
• “It is ambitious; it represents undisputed progress and expands the organization’s horizons.” (vii)

Warren Bennis adds, “Vision should not be limitless—this lacks credibility with people within and without the organization. It should be beyond the boundaries of ordinary planning activities but not so far distant as to be unrealistic.”

Parameters of vision

Vision is needed at all levels of the organization.
It is imperative that leaders at the top of the organization have vision, but so must all other leaders in the organization, including for example, the director of HR, the operations manager, head of R&D, the marketing director and others. The primary vision statement crafted for the entire organization will serve as an umbrella under which sub-set expressions of that overall vision can be adopted.

Vision is needed for various time-frames: short-, medium-, and long–range.
A leader needs a clear picture of what needs to happen in the next month, the next quarter, and in the coming years. These various time-frames are continually considered and negotiated.
For instance, Henry Ford had a vision of a car in every garage; Bill Gates had a vision of a personal computer on every desk and in every home. But these grand visions had to be broken down into shorter-term, more doable plans.

Vision is consumable.
Vision is a picture of the future, but the future is continually becoming the present which immediately becomes the past. Therefore vision is consumable, it has a limited shelf-life. Obviously, long-range vision will last longer than short-range vision, but all vision is temporary.

Imagine throwing logs onto a blazing fire. As the logs burn they produce energy but they are consumed so the fire must be constantly fed new logs. In like manner your organization (the fire) must have a steady supply of vision (logs) to produce results (fire and heat).

As a leader, vision casting will be a never-ending part of your job, a race that never ends.

Vision should evoke a feeling of passion in the heart of the leader.
Since vision is a picture of the future that is better than the present it will create hope and anticipation and these feelings should first be felt in the heart of the leader. Leaders must be passionate, not apathetic, about the vision. Followers will be reluctant to get excited about the vision if their leader is not.

Vision influences routine functions, but also addresses that which is unique and new.
In most organizations the majority of work is routine – products are produced, services performed, reports filed – and these routines should be continually enhanced by fresh vision. But vision is also a picture of the future that is different than the present, so when asked, “What is your vision for your organization?” if you reply, “The same old same old” you need to think again.

For example, an organization’s accounting systems are routine (receivables, payables, payroll) and while these systems will benefit from fresh vision, vision casting must do more than just improve systems, it must address new areas of growth and potential.

Crafting vision goes beyond just generating ideas.
When developing fresh vision, start by considering many ideas and possibilities. Linus Pauling suggests that, “The best way to get a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.”

But Denny Post reminds us that, “Coming up with new ideas is relatively easy. It’s figuring out which of those new ideas we should pursue that’s tough.” So all those ideas must be carefully evaluated and only the best ones pursued.

When does an idea become vision?
On it’s way to becoming a vision, an idea usually goes through several stages:

• We could do it. – Is the idea credible? Do we have the resources to do it? If not, discard it; if the answer is, yes, let it go to the next stage.
• We should do it. – Is the idea consistent with our mission and values? Is it the best use of our resources or should we channel our resources toward other ideas? If not, eliminate it; if it is, consider the next stage.
• We must do it. When an idea becomes irresistible and the right people take ownership of it, it becomes vision. The key word here is ownership. Every vision needs a champion, someone (or a group of people) who says, “This is mine, I will make this happen. I see it in my mind and will not rest well until I see it in the physical world.” At least one person must “see it” but then that one person (the leader) must challenge others to also “see it” and inspire them to be equally passionate about its fulfillment.

Vision produces tension between current reality and a better future.
Peter Senge warns us that, “There is an obvious gap between vision and reality. These gaps can make a vision seem unrealistic or fanciful. They can discourage us or make us feel hopeless. But the gap is also a source of energy: creative energy. This creative energy (tension) can only be resolved in two ways: pull reality toward the vision or pull the vision toward reality.” (viii)

Vision usually exceeds our present resources and propels us into new territory. It disturbs our comfort zones and challenges our routines, so leaders should anticipate the tension it creates and not be surprised by the stress and strain it produces. Tension is a natural byproduct of well-crafted vision.

Vision will create tension in your mind (“I can’t believe I suggested that we do this”) and in the minds of your followers (“I can’t believe he thinks we can do this”). As Senge suggests, the only way to eliminate the tension is to give up on the vision or to accomplish it.

When Steve Jobs first visualized the iPhone and shared the vision with his team, it likely caused wide-spread consternation – how can we build such a thing? But now that the vision has become reality, that initial anxiety is gone.

How do leaders get vision?

The short answer to this question is: People find what they look for and leaders look for vision. We all pursue our priorities and leaders prioritize finding fresh vision.

Several years ago, a renowned British art scholar, Sir Timothy Clifford, uncovered a treasure in the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Design Museum in New York City. He had come to Manhattan to spend a month-long sabbatical viewing the museum’s sizable holdings in Italian drawings and prints.
While rummaging through thousands of prints, he noticed a drawing of a candelabrum rendered in black chalk brown wash. He immediately identified it as an original Michelangelo. It was soon packed up and sent to London where four other scholars confirmed its identity and laboratory analysis verified the paper and materials to be approximately 500 years old. Current value: 10-12 million dollars.

The drawing had been in the museum since 1942, identified only as “Italian, circa 1530-1540.” It was purchased, along with four other sketches, from a London art dealer for $60.

When asked how he could so quickly and unhesitatingly identify Michelangelo as the artist, Clifford said he recognized it as if he were recognizing “a friend in the street or my wife across the breakfast table.” (ix)

Through years of conscientious study and practice, Clifford had trained his senses to recognize that which he valued; he was able to see what others could not.

In like manner, good leaders so highly value vision that – through study and practice – they simply get good at finding it. It may take years of study practice, but they are determined to master the art.

A vision pipeline

Sometimes vision comes all at once, but most often, it develops slowly. Nanus says, “Visions usually don’t arrive mysteriously, in a brilliant flash of insight or revelation.” (x) Bill Hybels agrees: “Some ideas burst into focus in a single moment. Others, however, are less cooperative.”

A longer, more systematic answer to the question, “How do leaders get vision?” is outlined below in what I call the vision pipeline. Use these 11 progressive steps to craft, fine-tune, and communicate vision in your organization.

1. Learn everything you can about your organization, similar organizations, and your industry. (Nanus) (xi)

Every business and industry has fundamental competencies and you must know them. What does it take for an organization in your industry to succeed.? What are the non-negotiables of your organization? For instance, the fundamental competencies of a church are different than those of a manufacturing company. Doing business in China presents different constraints than doing business in Brazil. You must have a firm grasp of the uniquenesses of your organization and industry.

2. Define reality; what is the current state of your organization?

“An accurate, insightful view of current reality is a prerequisite for crafting vision. You must be committed to the truth.” Peter Senge

A leader’s first task is to define reality; what is the current state of your organization? You cannot be clear about what the future of your organization should look like unless you are clear about its present state. Be an optimistic realist—a realist about the past and an optimist about the future.
A good place to start is to answer five questions posed by Peter Drucker. He said every organization must have a good answer to these issues: (xii)

• What is our mission?
• Who is our customer?
• What does the customer want?
• What are our results?
• What is our plan?

Another approach is to delve deeply into the SWOT issues:

• What are our strengths?
• What are our weaknesses?
• What are our opportunities?
• What are our threats?

In your search for a thorough and honest picture of reality, you and your team must have frank dialogue among yourselves but you should also solicit the input of others, including customers, competitors, front-line workers, and even spouses of employees.

3. Initiate the process of crafting vision.

As the leader, you are responsible for ensuring that your organization has updated, viable vision. If you don’t do this, it will probably not be done. Followers just assume that the leader will handle this, and, not wanting to be insubordinate, they most likely will not take the initiative.

A leader takes the initiative in two ways:

As the leader, you take the time—alone—to dream about the future. Most people don’t take the time to think systematically about the future of an organization but leaders do, so you must. On a regular basis, spend time thinking about the future.

As the leader, lead your team in thinking about the future. While you are responsible for your organization having vision, that doesn’t mean you have to craft vision by yourself. Actually, developing vision collaboratively with your team is usually better than doing it alone. Most organizations are so complex and their environment so difficult, that no one individual, no matter how bright and talented, can see it all. On a regular basis your team needs to hear you say, “Let’s take some time to think about the future.”

Burt Nanus says, “It is much better to develop a vision with others than to try to do it all on your own. A group process is likely to improve the quality of your vision by bringing a wider range of informed viewpoints and expertise to bear on your search. It will be easier to implement the results when your team has had a hand in the choice of vision and shares responsibility for it.”

Kouzes and Posner also recommend collaborative vision casting: “Leadership is not a monologue, nor should the creation of a vision statement be done individually and without the active involvement of others who must attend to these operations. The process of finding common ground, often through the creation of a statement of shared values and vision, is as important as the content itself, and sometimes even more so.” (xiv)

4. Invent alternate “pictures of the future” and choose the best.

Relative to your your organization’s future, there are probably multiple, attractive alternatives to pursue. Consider many options and choose the best.

Vision doesn’t have to be original. There’s nothing wrong with noticing what is working for others and copying it. The old adage, “Most good ideas are borrowed; most great ideas are stolen” is both humorous and truthful. Of course, copyrights, patents and trademarks must be honored and proper acknowledgments made, but don’t think that your vision must always be novel. Sam Walton, founder of Wall Mart, once confessed, “Most everything I’ve done, I’ve copied from someone else.”

Leaders are good “spotters” – often functioning more as talented curators than as gifted artists. They know how to recognize what others have done that will work for them and they’re not too proud to borrow the idea.

5. Submit all potential vision to robust dialogue.

All ideas and plans will be improved upon when submitted to the wisdom of others. That’s called robust dialogue. Consider all initial ideas to be malleable —rough ideas that need to be fine-tuned—and let your team massage them. Their input will make the ideas better and will increase their sense of ownership. Simply ask, “What do you think about this idea?” and then listen attentively.

6. Write the vision down.

Do not underestimate the importance of writing down the vision. Writing helps us codify and clarify our thoughts and it makes it easier to communicate the vision to others.

Nanus offers a helpful template for recording vision. Complete this statement for various time-frames (one month, six months, twelve months, eighteen months, etc.).

My organization plans to make enormous progress over the next ________ (months, years) by ___________________________. (Nanus) (xv)

7. Allow vision to mature.

Before you finalize vision, put it in the oven and let it bake for a while. Good vision is usually the result of a considered process.

This is why vision retreats (usually off-site events with the express purpose of crafting vision) often produce inferior results. It’s difficult to craft good vision in one setting. While it may be helpful to devote several days to focusing on the future, consider it as part of an on-going process, not as an isolated, single and stand-alone event.

Of course, at some point in the process you do have to pull the trigger and act on your vision, but be patient, thoughtful, thorough, and careful in working to get it right.

8. Communicate the vision.

Nanus says, “Vision is little more than an empty dream until it is widely shared and accepted.” Crafting vision is, perhaps, the easy part; communicating the vision and garnering genuine commitment (not just compliance) is a tremendous challenge. Do not underestimate how hard it is for people to “see” something that does not exist. Image a sculptor trying to describe to others what he sees inside a block of marble—that’s the challenge a leader faces in communicating vision.

Here are some suggestions on how to communicate vision.

Share the vision.
Leaders speak often of the future. Don’t neglect this obvious and critical step: share the vision and ask people to embrace it and own it. Also, give people adequate time to process the vision. It probably took a long time for the vision to mature into its present form so don’t expect people to immediately understand what might have taken you months to solidify. Your goal is for everyone in the organization to eventually embrace the vision and become “vision carriers.”

Vision cannot be forced upon people.
Warren Bennis reminds us that “Vision cannot be established in an organization by edict, or by the exercise of power or coercion.” A heavy-handed approach may solicit a measure of compliance but it will not garner people’s whole-hearted endorsement or involvement. You must share the vision in an attractive way and ask people to adopt it.

Personify the vision.
Never paint the vision without placing yourself in the picture. Kouzes and Posner teach us that, “If the vision is someone else’s, and you don’t own it, it will be very difficult for you to enlist others in it. If you have trouble imagining yourself actually living the future described in the vision, you’ll certainly not be able to convince others that they ought to enlist in making it a reality.” (xvi)

A good example of a leader personifying a vision was Mother Teresa. Her organization, Missionaries of Charity, existed to “Reach out to the destitute on the streets, offering wholehearted service to the poorest of the poor” and she embodied that vision daily.

Vision “leaks”; that is, people forget, so you must continually reiterate vision.
It’s naive to think that you can state the vision once and assume that everyone understands it and will adopt it. You must talk about the vision so many times you may get tired of repeating it.

The more you know your people and they know you, the more likely your vision will be accepted.
Bennis and Nanus write, “Trust is the emotional glue that binds followers and leaders together. The accumulation of trust is a measure of the legitimacy of leadership. It cannot be mandated or purchased; it must be earned. Trust is the basic ingredient of all organizations, the lubrication that maintains the organization.” Followers may be understandably reticent to embrace the vision of a leader whom they do not know. John Maxwell says, “People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.”

9. Make necessary changes in organizational structure to accommodate vision.

Bennis and Nanus teach, “Changes in the management processes, organizational structure and management style all must support the changes in the pattern of values and behavior that a new vision implies.” (xix)

If your vision is just an incremental modification of the current status, major structural changes in the organization may be unnecessary. But if the vision is a radical departure from the status quo, significant changes may be required so that the organization’s structure will aid, not impede, the new direction. These changes may impact human resources, budget, facilities, systems, and operations.

10. Immediately connect vision with execution.

“Ideas don’t move mountains; bulldozers move mountains, but ideas show where the bulldozers have to go to work.” Peter Drucker

Quinn adds, “When we have a vision, it does not necessarily mean that we have a plan. We may know where we want to be, but not know the actual steps to get there.”

The epitaph of many organizations might be: They had an exciting vision but it was poorly implemented. Crafting credible vision is necessary but not sufficient; it gets you to first base but doesn’t add any points to the scoreboard.

In the Lead Well model, crafting vision is just one of six things that a leader must do to be an effective leader. Once you have a vision you must execute to insure that vision becomes reality. Do this by placing all vision into another type of pipeline—the 90-Day Leadership Map, which is discussed in the lesson on Execution.

Vision defines what the organization wants to do; execution considers how it will be done. It’s important to talk about execution while you’re crafting vision because it forces you to test the credibility of vision early on. You may be visualizing a future that is totally unrealistic and unattainable.

11. Continually adjust your vision.

Military personnel know that no strategy can withstand first contact with the enemy. Military strategists compose a strategy based on available information but as soon as the enemy is engaged variables change and plans must be adjusted.

Similarly, football coaches prepare a game-plan before the game but it is usually fine-tuned at half-time in response to current reality.

In like manner, regardless of how well-thought-out your vision may be, when it comes in contact with the future it will need to be adjusted. This is particularly true for dynamic organizations operating in fast-changing environments.

Vision cannot be static and immutable. Because we’re dealing with the unknown (the future), vision must be malleable and dynamic. That’s no excuse for being wishy-washy, tentative, or hesitant about your vision, but you must be flexible and resilient.

 

Vision-casting is a never-ending process. Get good at this and you will lead well; ignore this lesson and your leadership will always be lacking.