Breaking through the status quo with vision
There is only ONE thing that can break through the status quo… vision.
Vision is a picture of the future with some implicit or explicit explanation of why people should strive to create that future.
It simplifies dozens of detailed decisions
It motivates people to take action in the right direction
It coordinates many people quickly and effectively.
Your leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen –– despite the obstacles.
Vision motivates actions that aren’t necessarily in people's short-term, self-serving interests.
And, with a shared vision, strategy decisions will become much more agreeable.
Effective visions are focused enough to guide employees on what is important versus what is out of bounds…
But open-ended enough to allow for individual initiative and changing conditions. They must be ambitious enough to force people out of their comfort zones.
A vision should be these five things:
Desirable
Feasible
Focused
Flexible
Conveyable in 60 seconds.
Dozens of managers, supervisors, and executives need to look at all their daily activities through the lens of this new vision - not because of some task in their inbox called “vision distribution.”
Nothing will undermine the communication of your brand change more than behavior on the part of key players that seems inconsistent with the vision.
You can’t yell things into existence, and you can’t push the river. It takes a shared vision to bring it to life.