Communicating Vision

This Tuesday’s reading is “Communicating Vision”, by John Maxwell, prolific writer and speaker on leadership.

In this short article, Maxwell outlines an approach for communicating a clear and compelling organizational vision.  (You will notice many similarities to the SUCCES tool that we have presented in many of the MOR leadership program workshops.)

He makes six recommendations:

1.  Connect relationally with your hearers.  You need to touch the heart before you appeal to the head or ask for a hand.

2.  Simplify the message.  The more concise, the more memorable.

3.  Embody the vision.  The best representation of a vision is the one on display in the leader.

4.  Prioritize influencers.  Leaders must treat everyone with respect.  But, they must focus the time spent on the most influential stakeholders.  If you don’t gain their support, implementing your vision will be an uphill struggle.

5.  Honor the process.  Vision casting is a process, not an event.  The vision needs to be kept in the forefront of everyone’s mind.

6.  Call to action.  Visions call for change.  Your goal in communicating your vision is to get people to take responsibility for making the vision happen, getting them to act.

So, the next time you are communicating your vision, consider giving this approach a try.

Have a great week.  .  .  .     jim