Leaders look farther down the road than others. By constantly forcing themselves to see farther, they get a better perspective on what might happen tomorrow and beyond. This perspective allows them to present the future to others.
What is vision? It is just painting a picture of where you could go. It is taking into account all of the talents, resources and knowledge of a group and pointing them in a direction that best fits their ability and the needs that they are trying to fill. It is looking at where you are now, where you could be and then providing a possible plan to get there.
During this process, a leader points in a direction but remains flexible and agile enough to change direction, if the situation calls for it. Sticking to a plan that is flawed is not well advised. Staying the course when the landscape changes is not being responsive to the situation. Leaders must constantly review the vision to see if it is on track and still the best goal.
Leaders restate the vision constantly. New members of the team need to know the target. Those who have lost their focus need to be reminded. The entire team needs to concentrate on the same effort and result. Only then can a leader keep things moving. Leaders take the time to reaffirm the group goals, provide progress reports, check the status of all areas and continue to peer into the future to maintain a long range view of what can be done.
Leave a Reply