Communicate Your Vision (Updated)

When was the last time you looked at the Vision, Mission, and Values of your company?  Maybe you have them memorized and they come out in every part of your being.  If so quit reading now.  For the other 99.9999% of us keep reading as the vision definitely needs focused on.

Dusting off the vision statement

Read the most recent company vision statement.  What grade would you give yourself on pursuing the vision?  I must say when I did this, I didn’t get a high mark.  It is one thing to have a vision out there, quite another to pursue it.  Each employee should have the responsibility for understanding what that vision is, but the accountability of the visionary pursuit falls upon the leadership of the organization.

In order for a vision to be successful, it has to be more than words in an email pulled from the last year archive or a web page refresh.  If you have one focus point in the job that you are in, is it based upon the vision? If the vision accumulates dust, how valuable is it?

Communicating the vision

Communicating vision requires several leadership skills that range from getting buy-in, showing themselves as the model of the vision, and developing the passion in others to pursue the vision.  Books have been written by great men and women on this topic.  Here are some keys that I think are valuable to communicating vision.

1. Collaborate and don’t commiserate.  Help others to embrace the vision that you share, but don’t spend a lot of time convincing persons who don’t find the vision valuable. It is better to cut and replenish, than to beat your head against the wall trying to convince the inconvincible.
2. Share early and often.  While many people may take a while to grasp on to the vision, the more a leader shares will provide a consistent message and direction.
3. Make it personal when possible. It takes effort, but sharing the vision personally will develop champions for the leader.
4. Celebrate accomplishments even if they are small.  There is a lot of negative information and messaging in many companies.  Share the accomplishments frequently and again try to make if personal.
5. Communicate outside the normal channels.  People are influenced by environments other than the workplace.  Meet them where it is most personal.

 

Review your vision and communicate the progress of how the vision is being met at least once a month. What would you add to communicating the vision of your company? Let me know in comments.