Vision Engagement Takes Time

Vision is a process that requires time and experience to own and understand. A leader’s vision for a team is the result of days and months of activity and contemplation. Through conversation and thought, they finally arrive at an idea that receives sponsorship for the commitment of budget, people and time. The leader distills all of this in to a presentation, to communicate with enthusiasm and intention about the opportunity. If a leader took time to get to that vision, why wouldn’t we expect team members to also need time, too?

The immediate answer is time. There isn’t enough time to let everyone process and arrive on the same page. So, the leader forges ahead and kicks-off the team with the vision, mission, and objectives – the reading of bullet points in a presentation. Invisible to the leader, there are murmurings that the individuals don’t understand the vision -- what they are doing and why they are doing it. Visible to the leader is that some individuals still don’t get the vision – they don’t have the knowledge about how their work affects another, or they are affected by another’s work.

What efficient ways can help a team to envision a version of the leader’s idea with passion and commitment?

Here are a few ideas from my experience with a Fortune 50 team’s effort that created and implemented a software product for managers to learn informally (not in the classroom) from each other: