Vision casting can be dangerous for the health of a team.
Sometimes vision-casting can destroy an otherwise healthy team.
I know that goes against what all the great leadership books and experts say, but it’s true. I have been guilty of this one – many times.
The most prolific vision-casters can ruin a good team.
Let me explain.
Casting a vision is one part of success in an organization. It is an important part. I have been known to cast a vision of things to come. My favorite way this happens is to go away for a few days, think, pray, and jot down notes. Then I come back to our team and draw out my thoughts on a whiteboard.
Oh, that’s so much fun! (My team knows when I go out of town it can be dangerous.)
So, yes, casting a vision is an important part of leaders. And, for clarity sake, I’m not talking about the one over-arching vision which drives the organization. I’m talking about the current thoughts in a leader’s mind of where the organization needs to go next week, next month or next year.
There’s more to leading a team than casting vision.
Completing the vision is another, equally important part.
And that’s the danger part of casting vision sometimes. The danger is when the team doesn’t understand the vision, there are no plans created of how to complete it or competing visions are still on the table from the last time I went out of town.
That spells danger for a healthy team!
It won’t matter how well the vision was cast. In fact, in this scenario, it can even do more harm than good if the leader is a really good vision-caster.
Here’s the thing, visions can often appear bigger than life. They can be lofty and stretching for the organization. They can be exciting and inspiring. That’s all good.
But people left without the “how” to complete it may feel discouraged. When people never seem to be able to keep up or complete their assigned tasks they can feel defeated. And if this is repeated over time, they may even feel like failures in their work.
They may even give up and the the vision dies.
Vision-casters, by nature, thrive on casting, so they are continually throwing out the next big idea. It’s fun, exciting, motivating – visionary.
But good leaders continually work to ensure people not only catch the vision, but also understand the how and have the resources to accomplish the vision.
It takes both.
As I’ve self-admitted, I can struggle here as a leader. Part of recognizing this is building discipline into my leadership.
Good leaders:
- Ask questions to make sure everyone understands the vision
- Ensure there are plans, strategies, and systems in place
- Break the vision down into measurable steps or goals
- Stay with the process during implementation phase
- Allow the team to push back when there are too many competing visions on the table
- Set the pace of the team so that there are seasons of pushing hard for what’s new and seasons of implementing
- Make sure there are built-in seasons of rest for the leader and the team
Have you been on the bad side of vision casting?
