WORK WITH ME NOT FOR ME

from Chapter 3, WORK WITH ME NOT FOR ME"

A great leader is a great teacher. That leader inspires himself and others by creating a vision, communicating that vision, surrounding himself or herself with people who share the vision, all while formulating the action plans for accomplishing that vision. Your team members, whether in a business, sports team, non-profit or service organization, church group, government agency or political group all deserve to have the leader share the vision for the primary goal of the group. 

A vision can be very simple

An early Microsoft vision was “A computer on every desk in every home!” 

Or more comprehensive:

Ford Motor Company’s vision is “People working together as a lean, global enterprise for automotive leadership…Automotive leadership is measured by the satisfaction of our customers, employees, investors, dealers, suppliers, and communities!”

Coca-Cola’s vision is “To craft the brands and choice of drinks that people love…to refresh them in body and spirit.”

More recently a local Automotive Dealership Business Development Center’s (BDC) vision was “To support the sales team by bringing into the showroom qualified clients to help them achieve 100 sales per month initiated through the BDC.”

Let’s examine some characteristics of an effective vision.

A vision statement describes future aspirations of an organization. It defines the dream, the continuing goal, and the unconditional direction that the organization is taking.

The vision is not tied to circumstances, future funding, roadblocks or obstacles of any kind, nor the present availability of resources.

The vision focuses the team’s or organization’s sights on the future.

So, to be clear, the vision shared by the leader with the team focuses on the continuing long-term goal(s) of the organization in such a way that each team member can visualize what that looks like. 

Notice that each of these visions statements paints for you a mental picture of what the future should look like. Each of us sees in our own mind a picture (vision) of what the leader wants the future to look like.

The goal of creating and communicating the “vision” for the team or organization is to get all the team members and even the community to see what can be done if we focus on working together to achieve the stated goal. Because each of us envisions in our own mind what that future looks like, the vision then becomes personal to us. That is called “SHARED VISION.”

“SHARED VISION”creates a synergy that incites the individual’s desire to foster better teamwork, continuous personal and team improvement, and their own personal commitment to excellence.  ALL championship teams and superior companies are committed to that “SHARED VISION!”

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