How’s Your Vision?

When I first start working with a new client, one of the things I listen for is whether or not the client has a powerful, clear, and compelling vision for the future. There are many reasons why having this kind of vision is important, but what I focus on first is whether I can hear that the client’s vision is informing their thinking and decision making.

Often, when a client is explaining the challenges they’re facing, and telling me what they wish to accomplish, I can hear that the most significant motivating factor is their fear, rather than their vision for the future - fear of never making it, fear of taking risks, fear of losing control, fear of not knowing what to do, or fear of making a mistake.

While fear is sometimes what motivates clients to enlist my services, it only goes so far as a motivational influence, and in my experience it is not sufficient to bring about the kind of changes that most of my clients say they really want. Vision, however, is another story. Vision can bring about real, deep, observable benefits and sustainable change. In his book “The Fifth Discipline”?, author Peter Senge writes, “There are two fundamental sources of energy that can motivate organizations: fear and aspiration. The power of fear underlies negative visions. The power of aspiration drives positive visions. Fear can produce extraordinary changes in short periods, but aspiration endures as a continuing source of learning and growth”? (2006, p.209).

The power of a clear and compelling vision to act as an organizational compass, or a guiding force, is often underestimated in business. Many businesses go through a strategic planning process of some sort, some of them shelling out big bucks for consulting in this area, only to end up with a vision that sits in the background and doesn’t really live and breathe as part of the fabric of the organization itself.

When this happens, it can be sign that the vision lacks personal relevance - the kind of relevance that comes from a vision that’s connected to all of the different personal aspirations of the people who make up an organization. This is one of the key characteristics of a great vision - it is “shared”? by all who serve it because it emerges from personal aspiration - from personal vision. Senge explains, “Shared vision involves the skills of unearthing shared “pictures of the future”? that foster genuine commitment and enrollment rather than compliance”? (2006, p.9).

His point is that what makes a great (shared) vision a potent and compelling influence on the culture of an organization is when that vision captures what it is that people long for and genuinely desire to work toward. “A shared vision, especially one that is intrinsic, uplifts people’s aspirations. Work becomes part of pursuing a larger purpose embodied in the organization’s products or services…”? (2006, p.193). When an organization is holding a shared vision, that vision is palpable, and its influence on thinking and decision making is clearly evident. Strategy is dictated by what course of action best serves the fulfillment of the vision.

References
Senge, Peter M. (2006). The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization. New York, NY: Doubleday/Currency.

Possibly related: