Don't be selfish with your team - share the vision

Without a vision, confusion reigns supreme. . .

As children growing up in a different time and place, our parents would occasionally pack up the family in the car on Sunday afternoon, and we’d go for a drive. For us kids, our role was to sit in the back, be quiet, and “enjoy the ride”. The bottom line – as mere passengers, we had no “vision” as to path or to where we were going.

But interestingly enough, many leaders end up running their organization the same way as my family’s Sunday drive, keeping the route (or vision) to themselves, and expecting their staff members to sit back quietly and just ride along.

In practice, an organization’s vision shouldn’t be classified information accessible only to those with top security clearance. For team members to truly buy-in to the organization’s cause, they need to understand it’s vision and ultimate path.

What is a vision? A vision is key to any important endeavor, it serves as the road map and path to the desired goal. It also allows members of a team to connect on the mission and all read from the same page. And though it may seem natural that there is always a clear vision and that everyone knows the vision, it doesn’t always happen that way. . .

Step #1 - Does a clear vision exist? If not, then develop it.

One of the first questions I like to ask when introduced to a new engagement is “what’s the vision and where do you want to go?” Surprisingly, that question kind sometimes puts the entrepreneur/leader on the spot, and as a result I’ve received some pretty vague and ambiguous answers. But for me as a facilitator, it’s hard to help someone get to their “promised land” without having an idea of what/where that might be.

The Lesson: If a clear vision doesn’t exist and can’t be communicated, then one should take the appropriate amount of time and energy to develop it. It should be clearly defined, tested, verbalized, and documented so as to ensure that it makes sense and serves as a logical and realistic pathway to the ultimate goal.

#2 – Once clearly defined, share the vision with colleagues/team members on the collaborative mission.

Don’t keep it a secret. I learned this valuable tip while once participating in a management training exercise. In this “game” we found ourselves separated into two competing teams, lined up parallel to each other, hands firmly attached to the team’s rope, with everyone (except for the two team captains) blindfolded, and no one except for the team captains knowing the instructions or ultimate goal of the exercise. The starting whistle was blown, time clock started, and immediately each competing team captain began shouting out (and over the voice of the other captain) instructions and orders for his/her team to follow.

It was during that frantic exercise, while sensing a total chaos, noise, and confusion, that I felt a nudge from the also-blindfolded teammate next to me who whispered, “I don’t know what the #$%^&* is going on”. I started laughing, and soon realized that through this stupid little exercise I had quickly learned what it meant to have no clue as to “the vision” of an activity. Of course, in the post-exercise de-briefing our instructor reiterated the message – sans a clear vision and instructions for an endeavor, most team members will find a mission mostly comprised of chaos, noise, and confusion.

The Lesson: Once a clear vision is developed, share it clearly, explain it fully, and communicate it passionately to all team members involved. It may sound overly simple, but it works wonders, and it helps create buy-in, cooperation, inspiration, and motivation for entire the team.

The end result: By sharing the vision, it’s clearly a better strategy than expecting your team members to just quietly “enjoy the ride” while figuring it out by osmosis. And maybe with a little luck it can keep your team members focused on the goals at hand, and you won’t find them laughing and whispering to each other behind your back that they don’t know what the #$%^&* is going on.