Promoting Change through Vision
By Mike DeGrosky
The fundamental purpose of leadership is to create and promote change, to move people and organizations from their current state to a desired state.
People engaged in leadership are the subjects of change but, more so, the driving force behind it. It matters not whether one leads a squad of firefighters, a research lab, or a large organization; without a vision of the organization’s future, there is no leadership.
Creating and articulating a vision of a desired future is a leadership necessity. Whether the organization is a fire crew or an entire large agency or organization, effective leaders must identify and relentlessly communicate a collective vision that answers the question “Where do we need to go?”
Visionary leaders do not answer that question only for themselves; they communicate their vision and ensure that those they lead understand the organization’s direction. Visionary leaders also involve people, knowing that an excellent vision rarely emerges from solitary efforts. Truly effective leaders offer much more than the generic vision statements that organizations often use to decorate their walls; they articulate clearly where their organization is going and what people need to do to get there.
A well-communicated vision is navigational, providing direction for the organization; it is like a star guiding people to the future the organization wants for itself.
I define organizational vision as a realistic, credible, desired future for an organization. Some people refer to organizational vision simply as a desired future state.
I do not know why, but people struggle with “the vision thing,” as a former president of the United States said. However, the business purpose of vision is not tough or mysterious. In fact, it is quite simple. The leader’s vision describes what he or she wants the organization to look like or what he or she wants it to be in the future. Vision is the leader’s description of a condition toward which the organization should work. At the most fundamental
level, vision describes the organization’s destination.
On this topic, I have long been influenced by Burt Nanus, a professor emeritus of management at the University of Southern California School of Business Administration, who, in his book Visionary Leadership, stated, “There is no more powerful engine driving an organization toward excellence and long-range success than an attractive, worthwhile, and achievable vision of the future, widely shared.” That philosophy shaped me, not only as leader but as a strategic advisor to other leaders, and it has never let me down.
Vision and leadership are inseparable. In the United States, statements of vision by prominent figures have famously and fundamentally altered the course of our nation. President John F. Kennedy’s vision of putting a man on the moon and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech inspired America to move beyond the status quo to achieve what, at the time, seemed almost unimaginable. However, a vision of success can also be much more utilitarian. A crew boss telling the crew that the intent is to complete and hold fireline from their current position to the division break by noon is vision, the desired end to which all will contribute.
Which reminds me of a long-ago quote by the late management guru Jack Welch, who had been the CEO of General Electric during its heyday. “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion,” Welch said. While business professors might argue that Welch’s vision ultimately led to GE’s demise, I share his thoughts on the relationship between vision and individual leadership. Similarly, John Kotter, an emeritus professor of leadership at the Harvard Business School and an influential author and business consultant says, “Effective leaders help others to understand the necessity of change and to accept a common vision of the desired outcome.” I like that description of a leader’s role.
The relationship between vision and leadership is an area that has been well studied. For example, Israeli researcher Taly Dvir and her colleagues found that a leader’s vision embodying transcendent elements is associated with increased levels of emotional obligation that an individual makes to an organization, including willingness to remain with the organization, pride in and promotion of the organization, internalizing team success, a feeling of “family,” and a sense of meaning and belonging. Along these lines, communicating vision represents a key component of transformational leadership theory that underlies most contemporary leadership approaches – the idea being that transformational leaders get followers to put forth extraordinary effort to accomplish a vision of an optimistic and attainable future.
Vision is a core leadership value that provides the foundation of organizational culture, inspires people, guides decisions, and helps people set and achieve goals. I cannot think of a leader I have seen accomplish much without a powerful, well communicated vision that people had gotten behind. I regard the ability to establish and articulate a desired future state, and rally people to it, as an essential leadership skill and believe that without
vision, there is no leadership.
Mike DeGrosky is a student of leadership, lifelong learner, mentor and coach, sometimes writer, and recovering fire chief.
He taught for the Department of Leadership Studies at Fort Hays State University for 10 years. Follow Mike via LinkedIn.
