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 Changing Managers into Visionaries - Winter 1996 PROBLEM: It's been said that organizations in America today are overmanaged and underled. Most managers tend to focus on the day-to-day managerial tasks of achieving specific goals, monitoring performance and controlling problems. Yet by putting their emphasis there, they tend to ignore the importance of motivating and inspiring their people with a strong vision of the future. The problem is that without a compelling vision, most organizations tend to get bogged down in the minutiae of everyday business. And no one has a clear sense of how their particular task fits into the larger picture of where the organization as a whole is going. SOLUTION: A vision is a picture of a special future that you hold for your department and/or your organization. Unlike short-term goals, it should be something that is realizable over the next 5-20 years. Your vision should be something you can picture clearly, and it should be so real you can almost feel it. The more real it feels, the more you and your employees will be inspired by it. For example, Steve Jobs of Apple Computer had a vision of a personal computer in every home and office in America. This vision was so exciting that his Macintosh design team worked 80 hour weeks for months on end to make that vision a reality. To create your own vision, ask yourself what kind of legacy you want to leave. If you could make your job and/or your organization into anything you wanted, what would that look like? What would truly inspire you and your people? What would be exciting and enjoyable for you to do as an organization? EXAMPLE: At a large retail distribution company, sales were flat and the employees were feeling directionless and uninspired. They hired me to help them rethink their vision of where they wanted to go in the future. RESULTS: Their top management team led by the President-Owner created a long term vision for the company at a weekend retreat. It was strongly publicized within the organization and employee feedback was encouraged. The results were that the employees' excitement returned and within eight months their sales doubled. SUMMARY: Don't let the pressing goals of today keep you from creating an inspiring vision of what tomorrow will look like. Enthusiasm is contagious. When you're excited about the future, your people will be too. |
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