3 Steps to Executing your Vision

It’s your first day on the job in your new leadership role. You finally got the promotion or started the business you have been wanting to for years and you cannot wait to implement all your new ideas for change. You have been frustrated with the way things have been run for a long time and you know you have the perfect solution. You sit your team down and you tell them your vision for the future and how you want things to operate. It seems the meeting went well and you are flying on cloud nine thinking you just conquered the world. That is until your team reports back to you at the end of the month and you find they produced results that were nothing like you had envisioned. You think to yourself, “I thought I was clear. How did they not understand?”

Throughout my years of academic research and being in the workforce, I have seen this phenomenon over and over again. New and even long time leaders have a vision of how they want things to be done but struggle in getting others to execute on their ideas. Research shows that a strong vision communicated well is one of the most powerful tools in a leader’s belt. According to Harvard Business Review, “Leadership vision is an essential means for focusing attention on what matters most; what you want to accomplish in your life and what kind of leader you wish to be (Friedman, 2008).

So how do we establish and communicate a vision, that produces the results that we are looking for?

1. Establish the Purpose of Your Vision

According to John Kotter (1988), one of the most prolific authors on the subject of vision and change, a good vision serves three purposes:

• First, clarifying the general direction for change simplifies hundreds or thousands of more detailed decisions.
• Second, it motivates people to take action in the right direction, even if the initial steps are personally painful.
• Third, it coordinates the actions of different people in a remarkably fast and efficient way.

The purpose of your Vision should be to allow your team members the ability and freedom to function independently without the need for micromanagement. They can make quick decisions in the face of difficulty because they are motivated to help achieve the goals of the organization.

However, the only way they can do this is if you, as the leader, have made your vision so abundantly clear that it has erased any hesitation or second-guessing amongst your team.

For Example, in a previous job I was given the task of creating a new video for our website. My boss sat me down, gave me all the details and wrote down the exact message he wanted the video to reflect. In addition, he provided me with example videos to refer back to. What I found was that every time I was forced to make a decision, I subconsciously referred back to the criteria I was provided. My boss said to make it professional, so when the videographer suggested casual attire, I could confidently disagree. I saw what he saw and I trusted the vision.

Here are a few ways we can make our vision more clear.

2. Make Sure Your Vision has these Characteristics

• Imaginable: Conveys a picture of what the future will look like
• Desirable: Appeals to the long-term interests of employees, customers, stockholders, and others who have a stake in the enterprise
• Feasible: Comprises realistic, attainable goals
• Focused: Is clear enough to provide guidance in decision making
• Flexible: Is general enough to allow individual initiative and alternative responses in light of changing conditions
• Communicable: It is easy to communicate; can be successfully explained within five minutes. (Leading Change (John Kotter, 1988)

Once you have established a clear vision, the next step is to focus on communicating it.

3. Never Stop Talking About your Vision

One thing that we fail to realize is just how much information our team members absorb throughout the day. In addition to hearing you talk about your vision, they read 50 emails, answer 10 phone calls, and engage with countless other employees throughout the day. The reality is that the vast majority of information they are taking in has nothing to do with your vision. Let's look at the numbers.

1. The total amount of communication going to an employee in three months = 2,300,000 words or numbers.
2. The typical communication of a change vision over a period of three months = 13,400 words or numbers. (that is the equivalent of one 30-minute speech or one hour-long meeting)
3. 13,400 / 2,300,000 = .0058 or .58%

On average .58% of communication received by our employees is in reference to our vision(Stenhouse, 2019). Can you blame them for not buying in to or even remembering what your vision was? Leaders need to take personal responsibility for communicating their vision consistently enough that employees are able to reference it constantly.

Final Thoughts

All in all, vision is a very powerful tool that all leaders need to use and embrace. The challenge is that we are all vastly different in the way we see the world. As a result, what I see in my head may be abundantly clear to me, and at the same time look like a different language to someone else. With that being said, if leaders can intentionally establish the purpose behind their vision, build it with the right characteristics, and never stop talking about it, they will begin to see it come to life.

Thoughtfully,

Shane