When moving from insight to vision, the danger is that the original compelling insight will suffer, becoming less compelling and less an instrument for attracting commitment. Because of this danger, leaders must pay careful attention to the process of crafting a vision, and must carefully consider the choices they make about this process and about their own roles within it. Leaders typically take one of four roles in relation to a vision; they may articulate the vision themselves, or steer a vision-making process that involves other people, or allow a vision to emerge naturally, or adopt someone else’s vision. Each of these roles places different demands on a leader.
Articulating a Vision Yourself
When leaders articulate a vision themselves, their work then becomes communicating it in such a way that it draws commitment from others. This is the model that we most often think of as the true expression of leadership. The strength of this model is that, the leader will invariably stand as the primary spokesperson and symbol for the vision, whether she likes it or not, and so it is imperative that she take full ownership for it. The weakness of this model is that leaders must eventually be inclusive, and involving people to create what will become their vision is one way to begin winning their commitment.
Steering a Group Process
When a leader chooses to participate in a vision-making process with other people, he opens up the possibility for those others to also take ownership of the vision. Lieutenant General Jim Ellis, talking about his earliest lessons in leadership, discovered the value of such an approach. Ellis entered West Point from the ranks of the enlisted, graduated, and later taught there as an Assistant Professor of International Relations and Economics. During his career he commanded The Third Army (Patton’s Own) and served as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Central Command. After a thirty-nine year career, Ellis retired in 1994 with over forty awards, including three Distinguished Service Medals. He then became executive director and CEO of The Boggy Creek Gang Camp, one of many such camps sponsored by Paul Newman, which each year serves thousands of children suffering from chronic and life threatening illnesses. Ellis is also a senior vice president of Endur, Inc.
Very early in his military career, Ellis was called upon do be the aidede-camp of the new commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division. Ellis said, ‘‘He came in at a time when the division had been in flux. We had had some organizational changes with some pretty demanding things from on high that had kept us in an uproar. When the old commander went out there was a lot of confusion.’’ The new commanding general insisted on asking, ‘‘What are we all about? What are the vision and mission, goals and objectives of this organization,’’ said Ellis. ‘‘He made everybody stop and think instead of running around. He made us focus on the purpose of the organization. That settled things down and gave people a definition of where to go.’’
Ellis continued, ‘‘He gave us a chance to reflect in a collective atmosphere with all of his chief subordinates. He accepted input from many, many people, including the higher headquarters. He gave us an azimuth and a path. It was incredibly successful and it shaped the future of the division for quite a long time.’’
When leaders choose to steer a vision-making process that involves others in creating the vision, as Ellis’ commanding general did, their work becomes facilitating that process while at the same time holding onto their own insight and making certain that the final vision expresses it. The strength of this model is that it is more inclusive from the beginning, drawing higher commitment earlier from people whose commitment will eventually be needed. The weakness of this model is that in the attempt to be inclusive, the vision becomes subject to whatever dynamics pervade the group charged with articulating it. Groups creating visions often try to reach a synthesis of ideas and end up with something that satisfies everybody but excites nobody.
Kathy Covert says of such efforts, ‘‘They lose the juice.’’ Covert is Secretary of the GeoData Alliance, an organization she founded to bring together individuals and institutions committed to using geographic information to improve human communities. She also serves on several nonprofit boards and, most notably for a discussion of leadership, she is on the Council of Trustees of the Chaordic Commons. This organization seeks to develop and share new concepts about human organizations. In tune with her interest in improving human communities and organizations, she is very thoughtful about her own leadership role.
Covert has been through enough unsatisfying experiences with groups trying to create a vision statement that she is wary of the process. ‘‘People don’t realize when a vision doesn’t resonate,’’ she said. In her experience, the process of synthesizing the varied ideas of a group of people in order to create a vision statement that eventually satisfies everybody but excites nobody leads to the adoption of a vision because of the, ‘‘Horror of opening it up again.’’
A group that insists everyone be fully satisfied will create a catch-all vision; a group that cannot reach the deepest levels of their humanity will produce a watered-down vision; a group that has competitive desires raging among its members will produce a self-referent vision. Also, a group that thrives on intellect will produce a vision that is likely to attract intellectual commitment, one that thrives on emotion is likely to produce a vision that will attract emotional commitment, and one that thrives on spirit is likely to produce a vision that will attract spiritual commitment. Any leader who proposes to have a group create a vision is well advised to ensure that the group has developed a constructive way of working together, and that its members have competence to win high levels of commitment, before being given this most important task.
Jim Ellis also offers a word of caution to leaders who walk into leadership positions where the organization and people are already in place and the work is ongoing, as was the case when he was aide-de-camp to the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division. In these situations steering a process that results in a vision takes courage. ‘‘It is awfully easy to roll with the tide,’’ Ellis said, ‘‘Instead of taking the hard course of stepping back and taking a look and asking, ‘Are we really doing the right things? Are we achieving to the best of our abilities what it is this organization is supposed to achieve?’ ’’
Another word of caution was expressed by Mary Ellen Hennen, who we will meet in more detail in Chapter 8. Hennen said that her own visions of the future have been with her for so long and are so much a part of who she is that, ‘‘I don’t see it anymore.’’ She knows the principles that drive her own leadership so well—they come so naturally to her— that working through a vision-making process with a group of people can become tedious, and she can easily tune out.
As Jim Ellis learned from the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division, an inclusive vision-making process can have great benefit. It is also fraught with peril.
Allowing a Vision to Emerge
Leaders choosing to allow a vision to emerge naturally must be attentive to opportunities that will enable them to continue to act on their original insight and respond to these opportunities. This is what Monsignor Fushek did after Life Teen was successful in his own parish. He responded to calls from other parishes, helping them to replicate his success. He guided the fledgling organization to develop a training package for other parishes and to present training conferences nationwide. He did not articulate a vision.
Fushek’s approach makes sense to Michael Jones, who said, ‘‘I have had a real struggle trying to figure out how vision fits in. Vision seems to me to include a path of certainty that cuts you off from the very process of creation that helps accomplish great things.’’
The advantage of allowing a vision to emerge naturally and to remain a fluid thing is that the potential for creative responses to threats and opportunities is higher. The disadvantage is that the process may leave those who seek certainty and who are uncomfortable with ambiguity feeling adrift and rudderless. Many leaders articulate a vision only because they are expected to, or because it has utility as a bridge between their insight and the commitment of others.
Adopting a Vision
When leaders take on someone else’s vision, their work becomes making it their own, and expressing it in ways that are both faithful to the original and to their own insights. This was the course taken by Dawn Gutierrez, who is executive director of New Way Learning Academy, a school whose mission is to serve children with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders, as well as children who are underachievers. New Way had been operating for twenty-five years when Gutierrez took over in 1993. With her leadership, New Way has doubled its enrollment, nearly tripled its staff, increased the depth of the programs it offers, greatly developed its teacher training, added technology, purchased its own building, and significantly improved its business operations.
Gutierrez had been a teacher at New Way for five years. Its founders were near retirement when she asked them what her future might be at the school. They recognized Gutierrez’ leadership potential, saw her as someone who could carry on their work, offered her the executive director’s job, and agreed to mentor her as she grew as a leader. She says, ‘‘First of all I had to believe in their mission. I bought into it right away. I think I was able to do that because I already had an experience in the public setting and saw what could be done through a private nonprofit school. I already had it. When I found New Way I didn’t have any problem continuing with the founders’ mission.’’
No matter which of these four courses a leader chooses, his vision must be worthy of the commitment of other people; it must attract that commitment. And no matter which of these courses a leader chooses, he must be prepared to be its primary spokesperson and primary symbol.
Summary
A vision serves as a statement about how a leader intends to create concrete reality out of her insight. Visions that have a noble rather than a self-referent quality are far more likely to win the commitment of others and to provide followers with a noble sense of who they are and who they are becoming. A leader can take a variety of roles in articulating a vision.
Questions About Yourself to Contemplate or Discuss with Others
Who, in your life experience, was practiced at vision?
To what degree are you practiced at vision?
What is it about vision that rings true for your current leadership role?
How important is vision to your further development as a leader?