Sharing your vision by Paul Lemberg.

"The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been…Leaders must invoke the alchemy of great vision."
Henry Kissinger

Why shared vision?

Isn’t the founder’s or chief executive’s or your vision good enough? Well yes, but when your people “share” the vision, it becomes theirs.
If they own it, they’ll care for it, work for it, and live for it, just as though it were theirs alone.

Here is a process for creating a shared vision.

1. Have each team member articulate his or her vision. You can write them out ahead of time, or do it on the spot. Either way, have them all written out and visible.

2. Spend time talking about where you want to go as a team. Let people speak their piece, and include their personal future as well as the company future. Have people say how the two are intertwined.

3. Next, create a list of key words or phrases that express your individual and collective visions. Write them on a board or flipchart – as many as it takes to capture what everyone has to say. Don’t worry about repetition, or even contradiction.
4. If you are more than eight people, break into groups of four to six. Each group weaves the key words and phrases into one or two paragraphs which express the group’s vision. You need not use every word, just the expressive ones. Each member of the group has to agree and be complete with the final statement.

5. If you have broken into groups, each group displays their “vision” and reads it aloud. All present vote on which statement expresses the vision in the most empowering and accurate way. If there is a tie (or near tie) find a way to merge the competing visions. Look for creative and inspired compromise.

If individuals need particular additions or deletions to make the final choice work – do those in a way which satisfies the entire group.

You are done when your entire team – this can be two people or two hundred – embrace your shared vision, and sees it as their own.

That’s a powerful place to be.

 

Copyright 2002-04 ©Paul Lemberg used with his expressed written permission

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