Creating Your Summer Vision, Part 2

Once you have the vision firmly in hand, you need to communicate it throughout the organization. You need to make the vision real. Put it in the heart and not just the mind. Get people to see it and then communicate it again and again. International consultant Manfred Kets de Vries thinks leaders should sound like broken records. "Leaders who have succeeded at getting their message across could probably go to the janitor of one of their office buildings and get from that person a sensible answer about what the organization is trying to do." 

People want meaning and purpose in their work. The leader’s job is to create that meaning. Show them their part in it and its effect on them. Lou Holtz, University of Notre Dame Football coach and one of the top 15 winningest coaches in college football history, used to tell his freshmen players in their first meeting, “Gentlemen, in the comic strip Pogo, there was a character who once said, ‘The solution is obvious, either we become them or they become us.’ I can assure everyone in this room that we are not going to become you. You must become Notre Dame. I want you to learn everything we do at Notre Dame, how we do it, why we do it. It’s important that you learn our methods now so that when you become juniors or seniors you can provide the proper leadership for our younger players. That is essential if we are to enjoy continued success. We did not recruit you to change the University of Notre Dame but to conform to the morals and values of this great institution. You won’t change Notre Dame, but Notre Dame is going to change you.” Holtz said that his speech “was establishing a standard, setting a tone from day one. We have all see many great companies and schools fail to pass on their rich traditions to the next generation. They are shortchanging their people.” Organizational traditions can help give people meaning by providing a sense of why and a broader perspective on their individual functions. 

More importantly, as Lou Holtz did, you the leader, must live the vision and communicate it in everything that you do. The more you live the vision, the clearer it will become and the more deeply your will understand it. Warren Bennis wrote in,Old Dogs, New Tricks, “To communicate a vision, you need more than words, speeches, memos, and laminated plaques. You need to live a vision, day in, day out, embodying it and empowering every other person to execute that vision in everything he or she does, anchoring it in realities, so that it becomes a template for decision making. Actions do speak louder than words.” 

The final step is to drive the vision forward.

Creating Your Vision for the Summer

Perfect for Our Business (From Leadershipnow.com):

Effective leaders and their organizations have an agenda. A vision. A vision is a direction—an attractive and attainable picture of the future. And it is important that every individual, group and organization have one that they can articulate. A vision isn't a statement on a laminated card that everyone is to carry. It is meant to solve real issues and move people to new behaviors. As a leader, if you don't know where you are going, you are irrelevant to you followers. With a vision you can inspire and lift individuals and groups to new heights—an important function of any leader. 

The visionary process is made up of fundamentally three steps: discovering the vision, disseminating the vision and finally, driving the vision forward. 

Obviously, constructing the vision is the most crucial step. All else hangs on the vision itself. It must motivate people by asking them to change to achieve a new level of behavior or there is really no meaning in and no purpose for the vision statement. Understanding that vision is about change is crucial to developing a persuasive vision that others will relate to an follow. It implies that you know where you currently are and where you want then be. Your vision must be grounded in commonly accepted core issues if it is to be accepted by the team. If your people do not believe that you understand them and the current situation, they will not be able to see the way to your vision. 

That said, the vision can come from almost anywhere. It is not merely a dream but a realistic picture of what could be. It should be pragmatic. In addition, it should be something that you are sincerely passionate about. If you are not passionate about it, it will be difficult for you to get others to get on board and sustain it. 

Almost everyone has a vision but they are not always shared visions. An effective vision must be a meaningful picture of the future that can be fully articulated and shared by all members of the team. Everyone needs to be able to have a part in the vision. A vision is not an end but a means. It provides the direction by which its adherents will achieve a purpose or result. 

The vision can be somewhat dynamic and fluid considering the changes in the times and needs of the group. It should be well thought out so that you are able to anticipate the upcoming realities of a given situation and adjust your vision accordingly. This will greatly enhance your chances of success. 

The next step is to disseminate the vision.

Interview with a PRM

Hey Georgia Managers

Here is an interview I had recently with our PRA of over 2 years, Michele. Please post comments with your biggest take aways.

Prep this Weekend

Hey guys

Be on your "A" game this weekend.  We have so many exciting things to talk about.  As a Division we were up 49% over last week and things are continuing to shape up to be our best year ever!

I was reading a book called "Talent is Overrated" on the plane down to Tampa for a DVM meeting, and I came across an interesting finding: 

Most people we believe to possess a huge talent (i.e. Mozart and Tiger Woods) are not born leaders, but have WORKED their butts off to achieve it. Tiger trained with his father every day from the moment he was two to become a champion.  He did it when others played.  Jerry Rice had workouts that made other world class receivers puke on their first day of training.  

What are you doing to increase your branch training?

Are You a First Class Noticer?

CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE I FOUND ON LEADERSHIPNOW.COM:

Warren Bennis suggests that we learn to observe closely and accurately. To become what writer Saul Bellow calls a "First-Class Noticer." This part of what he considers to be the single most important attribute of successful leaders. 

Essentially being a “first-class noticer” means to get out and learn as much as you can. 

Primarily we must learn how to learn. This involves some introspection to discover just how you learn and then to get out and do it. Expose yourself to that which is not "common" to you. Be open to experience. Bennis states that “when those who lack adaptive capacity hit a rough patch, they tend to shut down and scar over. The fortunate remain hungry for experience no matter how severely they are tested.” 

Look for experiences that are new and different and seize opportunities. Develop relationships with people who are different from the people you ordinarily have relationships with, especially those that come from different backgrounds and age groups. See movies and plays, read books and visit museums. These will broaden your outlook and develop a deeper well from which to draw from. 

Above all, Bennis reminds us to stay comfortable with "not knowing ... but finding out." In this world, do we need a better reminder than what happened on September 11, 2001? We have to be at ease with uncertainty, chaos, complexity and not settle for the easy answer and the silver bullet. They don't exist in today's world. Never did, actually.

Wrap Up Talk on Creating Vs. Collecting CPO

Here is a Wrap up talk I delivered this week about being proactive and talking control over their sales week instead of simply taking what is given to them.

Welcome GA Corps MGMT Class of 2009

Hey Guys,

I am just starting this website, so bare with me as I attempt to get it down.  Check up and Follow this website as I will post a lot of interesting articles and videos that pertain to your personal growth and mgmt training.