Most leaders have a vision for the future. Perhaps it’s been intentionally and thoughtfully crafted. Maybe it’s also clear, practical, and you’re optimistic it will have its intended impact. But the problem is, the people around you aren’t buying in. When you cast the vision, people are neutral and unmoved at best. You may even receive shrugs and blank stares. No one’s excited.
After coaching thousands of our clients, I’ve learned exactly what needs to happen for people to get excited about your vision. You have to make it inspiring. Here are three ways to do just that.
1. Talk about what isn’t, not what is
Stand in the future. Look around and describe what you see. You’re describing what isn’t, at least not yet. All of a sudden, you’re in the realm of possibilities. When you shift from describing what’s possible to what might be possible, there aren’t any real constraints—except for the ones you drag with you from the present. Free yourself from those and suspend disbelief about how it’s all going to come together for now. That’s where you get vision. That’s where you get excitement. And then the resources will follow.
2. Make it exponential, not incremental
When you focus just on what is, you get incremental change. But vision ignites the possibility of exponential change for the better. That enables you to create momentum, and momentum is what gets you into the future. It’s that kind of momentum that sets the stage for creating breakthrough products. To get there, here are some questions worthy of attention: What’s the product you’d create if you had no constraints? What do you actually want to do for people? When you get stuck in the how, you neglect asking questions like this. But that’s where the breakthrough—the exponential thinking—comes from. And a big vision is what will align your team and cause people to rally around it.
3. Make it risky, not delusional
A degree of self-awareness is necessary at this point. Your vision should be challenging but not reckless. It should be stretching but not seem impossible to your team. A healthy level of risk, however, is good for your business. It drives innovation and creative thinking. It also gets people excited, because, if there’s no challenge, it’s not fun to think about getting onboard. No one is going to be motivated to do the same ol’ thing you did last year. But something happens when your team sees you confidently looking into the future. When they catch the excitement of starting something together where you don’t exactly know how it’ll all work out, something you’ve never done before but know that, if you pull it off, it’ll produce breakthrough results. This is when they’ll engage. This is what will get your team onboard.
Everything comes down to vision. If your business isn’t growing, and your team seems disinterested or lackluster, it can probably be traced back to a problem with your vision.
Which of these three vision strategies do you need to implement to inspire your team?
Last modified on October 10th, 2022 at 9:26 am
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