Inspire a Shared Vision if You Want People to Follow
“Line up ducklings!” I shout into the expanse of the park. “Time to follow the leader duck!”
I am not screaming at actual ducks. Nor am I a duck. I’m beckoning my three young children to get in the car.
My three year old comes running. The 18-month-old twins do not. They have found a captivating piece of tin foil on the playground and have no interest in responding to their father’s request.
In this life stage, I have found that a game of “follow the leader” is a quite effective parenting tool when I need my kids to go somewhere. However, the game seems to break down when the ducklings that I am communicating with are distracted or cannot grasp where it is we are going or why.
Who’s Going to Fill in the Gaps if You’re Not Inspiring a Shared Vision
This playground parenting experience is not far from our daily organizational experiences. As leaders, we have well-articulated mission statements, strategic objectives, or pithy campaigns. We have ideas for new products, the best markets to be in, and efficiencies to realize. And while we are aiming our efforts at the right things, there is often a gap between our clear vision and whether or not others align with that vision to help it come to life.
Too frequently a leader will articulate a vision and proudly sketch it out on the whiteboard only to be surprised and disappointed when their proposal isn’t adopted immediately (or even eventually). Just as common is the leader who assumes those around her will be clairvoyant, reading her mind to discover the self-evident brilliance of the direction toward which she has set out. Having your sights clearly set on something is important. Articulating that vision is the first challenge. The second is ensuring that the clear direction is shared and understood.
True Alignment Occurs Only When Leadership Shares its Vision
And then, once shared and understood (far more difficult than it sounds as any leader whose tried will attest), it must be personalized. Deeply embraced and owned. Creating conditions for this shared aim is the platinum standard of leadership many feel only gods achieve. Turns out it’s not some mysterious force that aligns an organization into this shared aim. It’s hard, unrelenting work. We laud leaders like Steve Jobs for the intensity by which he held onto his vision for products and technology concepts. But what we miss is that Steve Jobs, even as he left Apple for NeXT, was able to articulate his vision in a way that others felt connected to it. He was able to create a clear and shared aim.
We see the same dilemmas at the individual level. Many leaders lament after being in a job for a decade, “I just don’t know what I want to do with my life.” Worse, mid-life crises that begin with the angst, “Is this really all there is for me?” And most painfully, when a leader hits their 50’s and looks back on their career and wonders, “How did I even get here? And what do I have to show for it anyway?” Whether aiming one’s own life, or aiming an organization, good aim happens on purpose, with hard work that doesn’t end.
Sometimes a Shared Vision Is Not Enough
And Yet Inspiring a Shared Vision May Not Be Enough
When shared vision is clear and shared, employees can show up to work every day, work autonomously, and trust that good things will come to both themselves and the organization. If the vision is not shared, then they may show up with cynicism (“I’m not sure how what I am doing today really matters”) or resentment (“I’m not going to work a 10 hour day so that my boss can afford that new yacht”). When one’s purpose in life feels well defined and values and career choices consistent with that purpose, we are deeply gratified, joyful, and make great impact through our choices. When our lives unfold rudderlessly, with an aimless meandering through jobs, relationships, and hobbies, life feels empty and meaningless. Organizations, and our lives, need not go that way.
And we want to help.
This Navalent Quarterly will tell the stories of organizations and leaders who have aimed clearly and collectively. Through interviews, our points of view, and a couple of tools, we hope that these next three months of posts will help both yourself and your organizations be the kind of leader that others line up behind.