Leaders who have this ability can see a better future for their teams and organizations. They're very successful at engaging others in a common vision, and leading them in the process of creating that future together.
A positive vision is far more powerful than many people would guess. And for a team, that is especially true. In the absence of such a vision, individual members of a team - any team - are likely to be pulled, quite naturally, in the direction of their own visions of the future. And often, at best, these individual visions are not well-aligned.
At worst, they directly conflict.
For example, some people are driven by great fear of the things they're trying to avoid. They're filled to the brim by graphic visions of the very things they dread. They may not realize how powerful these fear-filled visions are, perhaps even leading them closer to the very things they wish to avoid. They need a compelling, positive vision to replace their fear.
Other employees, in their great desire to try to manage change, are motivated by visions of protecting the status quo, sometimes at all costs. These visions can be helpful in the short-term when change is chaotic and they reduce the undesirable effects that some change change can bring. But in the long-term, status-quo focused visions are likely to freeze the organization in place - while customers and competitors continue to move far ahead.
What happens if individual employees are working to visions that conflict?
The result is likely to be wasted effort, time and opportunities, as well as distraction, team dissension - anything but a focus on customers, and the team effort required to make sure their needs are well-met. Ultimately, of course, dissatisfied customers take their business to competitors, or decide to quit buying the types of products and services you sell, altogether.
Great leaders gather and direct the full range of their team's resources - their time, talent, attention, energy, and, of course, budget - to create a strong and positive shared vision of the future for their companies, customers and team. And then they make it happen, continuing to adapt effectively as they lead their organizations ahead.
Jan_Richards
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