If vision is not shared consistently your team will lose it. Experts say if vision is not shared at least every 30 days your team will not know it and will lose inspiration. If vision really does motivate, unify, and encourage people to step up, it must be a central part of how a leader leads on a daily basis.
It is interesting how people “step up to the plate” when given a little vision. When one of my daughters was only two and a half years old we let her help set the china on the dining room table and we have all wood floors! You might think we were crazy but you should have seen her. She stepped up so proudly and carefully carrying and placing every place setting. Now, you have to be alright with a drop. But the truth is she has never dropped a single plate or glass. Why? Part of it might be that we shared some vision and gave her a little responsibility. My son does not carry this success story, but isn’t a broken plate or even a few worth the opportunity to learn responsibility and grasp a vision. To see people step up is a leader’s motivation.
I can remember growing up on the farm and my dad lived out his advice of “always give a child as much responsibility as he or she can handle.” Of course, learning how much one can handle ensures mistakes will be made. I can remember spreading fertilizer when I was about ten years old and running the tractor into our car. Another time I drove too close to the ditch with the dump truck containing a thousand gallons of water and chemical and tipping it. I was twelve years old at the time. Did Dad get angry, never. I knew he believed the best of me. I knew I had made a big mistake. I wanted to do my best for a leader that would believe in me and give me great opportunities.
There are really two types of vision. Giving individual vision for how great a single person can be. And there is the bigger vision. The vision of the organization or team or family. Share both often. You will inspire, encourage, and unify.
How can you share more vision with your team, organization, or family? A few ideas follow:
- Simplify the vision of your organization so that people can remember it.
- Every chance you speak tie back to the vision.
- Get the vision in front of people whether on desks, the refrigerator, screen savers, framed pictures, t-shirts, mugs, above the urinals or stall doors, or weekly emails.
Teamwork, Agriculture, Ideas, Vision, Big Vision, Trust in Business, Trust in Leadership,
