Do you have a vision? A vision for your company? A vision for your team? Or, a vision for yourself? Creating your vision can be challenging for managers. We do not always take the time to think of the end first. And that is what a vision is – a picture of what our efforts will achieve in the end.
I had a vision for the company I led which was created by a team of employees and then reviewed by all employees for buy in. After it was tweaked, each employee set individual goals for their contribution to the company vision. For five years, we worked toward our vision of delivering excellent customer service. We were all honored and delighted when our Fortune 100 customer named us 2003 Tier One Supplier of the Year! We were awarded this great honor from their supplier community of 6000 suppliers. And we won this award for outstanding customer service.
It is amazing how opportunities, people and abundance begins to come into your life when you identify what your purpose is with a clear vision. I have created my own life vision which continues to pull me forward and guide my activities. It is a very powerful feeling to know exactly where you are headed.
To gain insight into creating your leadership vision, one word comes to mind – Clarity.
I believe clarity is key to any leader’s development. You must be clear about where you are headed, what is your vision, what is your purpose. One of the main secrets to being successful is to take the time to think through what is important to you. Being clear about what motivates you, and knowing your values, allows you to make the right choices in life supporting your clear vision. If you do not know where you are headed in life, there is no way you can make a success of it, let alone guiding others to do well.
I believe all of your life experiences, good and bad, help to define who you are. Taking the time to establish your personal vision is critical. I refined my own vision over several years. I attended leadership conferences, hired a business coach, read books and listened to many audio CD books. As in business, lots of input, research and thoughtful discussion are necessary for creating a vision. Start where you are now with a clear vision and refine it over time.
A leader with a vision, who knows where she is heading, is able to make decisions amongst tough choices. I have come across many people in life who complain about how unlucky they are, and how they cannot get a break no matter how hard they try. But when you ask them what it is they want to accomplish, or what their goals are, you get answers like, “Maybe I’ll do this…” “Perhaps I should try that…” “I’m not entirely sure…” etc. This indicates that the person clearly has no confidence or clarity about where they are headed and struggle to decide amongst even the simplest of choices. And yet they complain about not being successful.
One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree.
“Which road do I take?” she asked.
His response was a question: “Where to you want to go?”
“I don’t know,” Alice answered.
“Then,” said the cat, “it doesn’t matter.”
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Start today, begin to create your vision. You will be amazed what world has in store for you when you are open to letting the ideas in.
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