Vision: A Key to Leadership SuccessA vision without a task is but a dream. Anonymous It's been my experience that a great leader is a person who has creative vision. What is creative vision and why is it important to you as a leader? Most of us live our day-to-day lives on "automatic pilot" without giving much thought to a larger purpose or meaning for who we are or what we do. Business Leaders often get so caught up in daily operations that they spend no time looking ahead or even looking around! This way of being can quickly lead to discouragement and financial failure. It's actually dangerousimagine your employees are a group of people traveling in a car, each with their heads buried in their AAA road maps, and no one, not even YOU, the driver, is looking out at the road! If they haven't crashed yet, they soon will. You, the "driver," the leader of your business, need to look down the road and take in all the "scenery."
Beware the Monsters! Sometimes business leaders confuse leadership with management. A leader often confuses the visionary function with the management function by being a control monster or a fix it monster. When being a control monster, it's tempting to either do everything yourself or to want to dictate how everything is to be accomplished. What works as a visionary is to set specific, measurable goals, specifying "what" needs to be done and "by when." Let your employees figure out the "how." They will take on ownership of the results. For a leader to direct the "how" is inefficient and undercuts and insults the intelligence of your employeesthe very thing you are paying them for! Your job as the leader is to step back, enroll your team to do its part in working toward the current objective, and then be with any "I don't know" that appears so that the 'how" can show up. This frees you up to cultivate your vision for what's next. Vision is an on-going creative process, not a one-time event The work of a visionary is not simply the one-time event of stating a vision and then implementing it. Vision is an on-going creative process, requiring you as a leader to continuously reflect on it and reevaluate. Michelangelo's artistic visions expressed in marble sculptures were not created in one mighty blow of a hammer. No, instead, each day Michelangelo checked the changing light, the evolving stresses in the marble, the amount of sheen, as he chipped away everything that was not a part of his evolving vision. In what took many years, in some instances, his visions finally emerged from the marble. As your company's leader, as the visionary for your company, you, too, should expect to have a million little adjustments or experiments with your vision as you move closer to its realization. Getting Started Questions can give birth to company visions and the vision-creating process. Here are some questions to consider:
Teach the Vision! A vision that is not clearly stated can't be shared, and a vision that is not shared simply doesn't exist. And how can it? If you do not communicate with your team, how can you expect your vision to become a reality? Remember: if you could get where you are going without a team, you would be there already!
Maintain the Vision! As others on your team work toward the realization of the vision, you as the leader remain the protector of it along the way. You are the one who makes sure that the easy times and the challenging times don't kill it off. You are the one to guard against the vision being clouded by too much "roadmap inspection." As the visionary leader, you have to keep your eyes on the horizonalways being clear about what you want, where you want to go, and making sure you enjoy yourself while getting there. Make it Alive! If your vision is not alive and visible, it doesn't exist!
Conclusion Three people were at work on a construction site. All were doing the same job, but when each was asked what the job was, the answers varied. "Breaking rocks," the first builder replied. "Earning my living," the second said. "I'm building a cathedral," said the third. -Peter Schultz What would it be like to always 'be' the third builder? Check it out!
Clay S. Nelson, the founder of Consulting Services Network LLC, and his team are committed to putting fun, family and financial freedom into everyones business and personallives. With over two decades of experience coaching business leaders in creating life balance, building teams, and writing plans, their programs are designed to alter the culturesof companies and families. They make a powerful and lasting difference with each person they meet, every group they speak with, and with every client they serve. Learn more about Coaching with Clay S. Nelson Learn more about the Personal Planning Workshop Contact Consulting Services Network LLC Find a Concrete Contractor 23 Services in 200 Metros -- U.S. and Canada © 2008 ConcreteNetwork.com None of this site may be reproduced without written permission |
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