How’s your vision?

For example: 

Instead of “issue the docs”, I typed “I sue the ducks”. 

“Talking a beak” rather than “taking a break” (there’s an Anatidae theme developing here!) And my favourite: “foc us his wee” instead of “focus this week.”  

If you’ve received a confusing message from me in recent months, my apologies! 

It wasn’t just my outgoing communications that were suffering, it was my inputs too. Squinting at the shopping list I was at a loss. What’s a wangermffuin? It was only after extending my arm to full stretch and holding the list at what felt like a 2-meter distance, it became clear - “Aha, watermelon.” 

Happily, my reading glasses have made everything clear again. I’ve noticed that I’m feeling quite a lot less frustrated, finding more joy in book reading and writing with greater confidence. Perhaps obvious with 20-20 hindsight, but I hadn’t quite realised the impact of a loss of vision on my motivation.  

This is a lot like leadership.  

Ancient wisdom stands the test of time. “Where there is no vision, the people perish” [The book of Proverbs, chapter 29, verse 18].  

Without vision, work becomes mundane and grinding. For too many people, this describes most of their working experience. It can feel frustrating and seemingly without end, like being on an uphill treadmill or trapped in a rat race. Mustering the positive energy to achieve impressive, creative outcomes under these conditions takes immense effort and is nigh on impossible to sustain. The result? Corporate mediocrity and individual burnout.  

Leaders, the good ones at least, are possessed by a vision for a better future and they inspire their people. They instil vision across their organisations, constantly conveying to everyone the meaning that supports day-to-day work.  This is not a Disney-esque fantasy but an informed view of how their company can improve the world, even if only a small part of it.   

Why does vision matter?  

Inspiration 

Vision is the basis for inspiring people and bringing vitality and energy. Without it, we all succumb to apathy.  

Togetherness 

Vision is a together exercise, rather than a top-down dictat. A co-created vision takes effort but carries an enormous impact. It galvanises teams, drawing people together towards a common objective rather than enabling people to exist within a detached silo. When motivated people work together, they achieve way more than the sum of their parts. They enjoy it more too! 

Focus 

Excellent leaders know what not to do, Their “to don’t” list is important to them. Vision clarifies where your scarce resources must be allocated. If an activity doesn’t serve the vision, then it shouldn’t be done. “There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency something that should not be done at all.” [Peter Drucker] 

Accountability 

Any worthwhile vision is big and requires commitment from the entire organisation, not just a handful. Clarity of vision is the basis that ensures that the whole organisation supports and challenges itself.  

Part of our own vision is helping leaders to find and focus on theirs. If that sounds like something you need, don’t wait to get your vision checked out. 

Activating the Achieve Emotion 

Vision is closely connected to the activating emotion of “achieve”. This is one of 24 emotional habits that we measure via a highly validated psychometric survey when working with our clients. “Achieve” is the habit of channelling passion into actions that result in new opportunities for success and fulfilment of one’s objectives. Individuals with an elevated score have learned that focused effort is fulfilling and they now enrich their lives with a reinforcing feedback loop of setting and accomplishing ambitious goals.  

In other words, they have a lot of get-up-and-go energy.  

There are various reasons that someone develops a strong “achieve” habit. However, we typically observe that people with a high score in this skill were encouraged, or sometimes even forced, to make their own way when they were young, rather than rely, or being able to rely, on others.   

Underpinning beliefs - whether they are actually true and helpful or not -  include these:  

• “I will only get it if I go get it myself.” 

• “It’s better to be self-reliant than dependent on others.” 

• “Gaining new experiences is exciting.” 

• “If I want to succeed, I have to put in the hard work myself.” 

• “Lazy people don’t deserve to win.” 

Those who were not encouraged to try hard, or who had most things provided to them easily, may have lower scores. It takes them a lot of intention and effort to pursue visionary outcomes.  

Let’s consider a real-life example. One way that our clients benefit from our insights is at the senior team selection process. Clarifying and aligning a) what’s expected in the role by the employer and b) what the candidate expects to bring to the role is a key factor in the success of any appointment for employer and candidate alike. 

One of our corporate clients was seeking to appoint a driven salesperson to open new markets, both in terms of geographical location and product. Our analysis of their candidate’s psychometric surveys quickly showed that they scored poorly in the “achieve” habit, making it predictable that they would struggle to deliver on our client’s expectations. This enabled our client to clarify their needs with the candidate at the interview, ascertain that the candidate did indeed prefer to sell existing products to existing clients rather than press into new markets and therefore end the recruitment process - to the benefit of both parties.   

The candidate avoided a job that they wouldn’t have been suited to. The employer saved time and expense and was quickly able to move on and appoint someone with far higher “achieve” habits, who’s flourishing in their role.  

What can we do to strengthen the “achieve” habit? That will depend on the supporting beliefs, however, here are some typical strategies:  

• Allocate specific time to consider and design a compelling future; don’t leave it to chance. 

• Do one thing every day that takes you forward towards your vision.  

• Set a stretching goal. Achieving 90% of a stretching goal is usually better than achieving 100% of a comfortable one.  

• Try a new experience; reflect on how you feel about it afterwards.  

• “Make the call”; pick up the phone and ask for something that you want; don’t put it off.  

How clear is your vision? Has your foresight deteriorated? If so, motivation will almost certainly be vanishing too. What will help you to get vision and purpose back at the top of your leadership agenda? 

Vision and achievement drive are foundational to excellent leadership. We can help you to identify motivational habits, and then support strategies to elevate drive in your and your team’s leadership.