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    You are here Home » change

    7 Elements of a Compelling Leadership Vision for Change

    Last updated on Sep 30, 2014 by Dan McCarthy · This post may contain affiliate links

    This post was recently published at Smartblog on Leadership:

    Leading
    change starts with a compelling leadership vision for change.
    According to leadership expert John Kotter, a lack of leadership vision is one
    of the most common reasons why transformational change efforts fail.

    A leadership
    vision isn’t just for large, CEO led, company-wide transformational changes.
    Leaders at all levels need to inspire people to change in order to overcome
    significant challenges and achieve important goals.

    “Transformational”
    is always relative and defined by those most impacted by the change. While an
    office reconfiguration at a branch office may seem insignificant and trivial to
    a CEO and his executive team, it’s probably considered transformational to the
    employees that work in that office. It’s up to the branch office manager to
    have a vision for that office reconfiguration, or the move is going to be met
    with skepticism and resistance. The change is going to take longer than it
    needs to, and may not even achieve the desired results.

    Here are 7
    important elements for any leadership vision for change:

    1. It should be positive. A vision should focus more on how the
    future will be better, and why. It should paint a picture of a better place to
    be.

    While many
    would say a “burning platform” approach should be used to convince people to
    change, I believe it’s a less effective because
    it relies on fear in order to motivate. I’d much rather rely on positive psychology.

    2. It should be inspirational. “We’re
    all going to show up for work on time for the next 90 days”
    isn’t really
    going to inspire the troops to be all that they can be.
    Decisions are emotional, not logical. People don’t make decisions by facts
    – they are swayed by their emotions. They then use facts to justify their
    emotional decision. A vision needs to appeal to the emotions of those involved
    in order to be inspirational, then supported with logic.

    3. It should be bold. What’s the most inspirational movie
    that you’ve ever seen? In most cases, you’ll probably think of movies that
    involved overcoming seemingly impossible odds. Don’t just say “We’re going to
    make a 10%” improvement” – go for 50%, or 90%! The best visions are
    BHAGs – big, hairy, audacious goals.

    Is there risk
    involved? A Chance you could fail? Sure, there always is with bold visions.
    Here’s a good way to look at it: There are 32 NFL football teams. Each year, every one of those teams set a goal to
    win the Super Bowl. Only one of them can
    win – the others will all lose. However, that doesn’t mean a team should set a
    vision for “making the playoffs and losing in the first round”.  If you don’t achieve it, you’ve most likely
    made positive steps forward, learned a lot, and had a blast trying.

    4. It should be inclusive. Involving other will not only create
    ownership and buy-in for the vision, it will most likely result in a better
    vision. There are a lot of ways to involve others in your vision. You can ask
    people upfront for their input,
    include them in the creation of the
    vision
    , or involve
    them in the implementation planning.

    5. It should be measurable and
    attainable.
    While a
    great leadership vision may not always have a specific number attached it, it
    should at least be directional enough so that people will know when you’ve
    achieved it. Again, some may disagree, but I believe
    a vision should have a destination.

    6. It should connect to the greater
    good.
    “Increasing
    revenue by 25%” may be important to the CEO and the Board, but it’s not going
    to inspire too many employees or other stakeholders. Nowadays especially,
    today’s employees want to feel like they are making a difference, and a
    contribution to making the world a better place. They crave a sense of purpose – that’s what inspires us to
    change and give it our all.

    7. It needs to be communicated - often. Many leaders believe they have a
    vision, but when employees are asked, they don’t have a clue what it might be.
    Visions should not be well guarded secrets! Leaders need to get out and talk to
    their employees about the vision. Communicating a vision is not an event – it’s
    an ongoing process, where the vision is constantly and consistently
    communicated until every single employee has internalized it.

    Creating a
    leadership vision for change isn’t easy – it’s hard work! But then again,
    there’s a lot of hard work in creating a lousy vision too, so you might as well
    do it in a way that inspires people to change and achieve extraordinary
    results. After all, that’s what leadership is all about.
     

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