Keeping an Eye on Vision

While every component is equally important, there is one component that we would like to highlight: having a corporate vision.

• The most effective innovation leaders could vividly describe their vision of the future, according to research on HBR. “The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion.” -Theodore Hesburgh, President of the University of Notre Dame
• Organizations in trouble will mention the lack of a vision as one of the key reasons for their stagnation or decline. “There’s nothing more demoralizing than a leader who can’t clearly articulate why we’re doing what we’re doing.” ~James Kouzes
• A positive leader sees what’s possible and then takes the next steps to rally and unite people to create it. Every invention, project, creation, and transformation starts with an idea, an imagination, and a vision of what’s possible. “I believe life is a series of near-misses. A lot of what we ascribe to luck is not luck at all. It’s seizing the day and accepting responsibility for your future. It’s seeing what other people don’t see. And pursuing that vision.” -Howard Schultz

Despite the importance of having a corporate vision, Michael Hyatt, author of The Vision Driven Leader, found that few leaders have, let alone share a vision. Hyatt states that vision creates alignment and thereby accelerates momentum. Vision attracts the right people and loses the ones that don’t align, i.e., those that oppose the vision. And vision attracts the right resources (John F. Kennedy’s vision put a man on the moon).

In short, it is the vision that creates the conditions for cross-silo collaboration. And as a bonus, by co-creating and sharing the vision, organizations can even achieve cross-level integration. If we’re able to create the right conditions for horizontal collaboration, because of how vision creates alignment and accelerated momentum, and if we were to empower and entrust our frontline employees to give their best in discovering, creating, and delivering customer value, then profit is almost sure to follow.

While Gallup found that 74% of employees are actively disengaged and 48% are even actively job searching of watching for opportunities, the research agency also found that actively engaged employees can lead to 1.7 times higher financial performance. And if the employees can actively engage customers, the financial performance even grows to 3.4 times higher than average.

ROUNDMAP is all about interplay, teamwork, and interaction. About purpose and passion. About vision and alignment. But mostly, it is about people. About the meaning of work. Of actually being part of something worth pursuing.