How many in #leadership have even been #empowered to cast a vision for their team?
I find that there is a dual-phenomenon that tends to prevail in many organizations. It looks like this:
Executives try to cast vision, but have no clue what the ground-level employees face on a daily basis and are therefore incapable of effectively communicating the vision or inspiring others to join.
Front-line leaders are not empowered to cast vision, and become glorified baby sitters, who are both ill-equipped to cast vision or effectively convey the vision of the executive team.
The result:
1. Frustrated executives
2. Disempowered middle-management
3. Unmotivated staff.
The solution:
I would be remiss to suggest there is a single solution for this issue. The reality is that no two organizations are exactly the same and there is no one-size-fits-all solution to ANY organizational problem. That’s why SML Consultive does not have a Leadership “program”. Each situation is unique.
With that said, there certainly ARE some things that any organization can do to help with this seemingly universal issue.
1. Executives should spend time with all levels of the organization. My mentor calls this “Leading by walking about.” This will provide necessary perspective and will help them to cast unifying vision. Then, when they do, executives should ONLY cast high-level vision. This means there should be freedom for lower levels to cast their own vision that aligns with the high-level, executive vision.
2. Middle and Front-Line leaders should be empowered (given both responsibility AND authority [as well as training]) to cast their own vision that aligns with the overall vision. They should feel free to accomplish the greater goals in the way that they believe is best. (If lower-level leaders cannot be trusted to do this, then the wrong people have been promoted.)
3. There must be constant feedback and assessment from ALL levels of the organization. If people do not feel connected to the vision, then they will leave! I have seen it often, as an organization changes it’s identity (for good or bad), and those who were there at the beginning cease to feel the connection that they once did. Often one-by-one they leave, as they are no longer part of the vision, and no longer have a sense of belonging.
There is a proverb that says, “It is for lack of vision that people perish.” I think we can update it a few thousand years and say “Without a cohesive vision, people will not stay!” Leaders cast vision. But great organizations have great leaders that cast great vision at every level! And all of them are thinking about the others that they impact, in the process. This is called Servant-Minded Leadership!
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