Setting a vision for your team is hard work. The people you work with need something to point their minds toward – the place you’re going, the environment, the emotion they’ll feel – all the things they can visualize being part of once they get there.
I remember hearing Suzy Welch say in a “Big Think” video, “You have to tell the drummer what the words of the song are about.” And in that phrase, she combines not only “giving the drummer the words” but what the words mean.
And if you’ve ever watched a charged-up drummer in a band play their hearts out, you’ll often see them lip-syncing some of the words in the sections they feel the most energy from. (I was a drummer years ago, so this lands differently for me.) When the drummer is into it – when they know what the song is about – they can make it bigger than it was originally written.
But what happens when the drummer doesn’t know the words? When nobody’s clear what the song is about? You get exactly what many teams are living through right now: chaos without direction, and effort without meaning. With the huge layoffs, economic uncertainty, and constant organizational churn, people have been on a rocking boat for a long time. They want something to calm the waters.
Leaders who provide a “certainty anchor“, with a clear, meaningful vision of where they’re all headed, can help a team find its footing.
But simply creating a Vision statement for the future isn’t enough. I often work with leaders and teams that initially have Vision statements that run a half-page, full of corporate language you would never say out loud, and quite frankly, no one remembers 5 minutes after your all-hands meeting.
I ask them: “How would you state your Vision if you were in an elevator with someone and you were only traveling 1 floor?”
That question usually leads to something much tighter, and with words that someone would remember when they step off the elevator. What’s hard to accept is that as the author of the Vision, you probably feel your initial words are SO thoughtful, compelling, and meaningful – but they’re your words, and without translation, including an exploration of the emotion behind it, your team might not get where you’re hoping to take them.
That’s why it’s helpful to talk about what the words of the Vision mean, together.
Three questions that are helpful to rumble with:
- Is the Vision compelling? (Does it push us to get out of our seats right now and start?)
- Is the Vision consequential? (If not, then why pursue it?)
- How will we feel when the Vision is realized? (How will we feel when we’re in the song, performing it?)
If your style is to let a Vision emerge organically, or to ask your team to do this important Vision work on their own without your input, the boat can continue to keep rocking (with no Dramamine available). And your team might wonder if you’re leading, or waiting for someone else to count off.
Build a Vision with words that mean something. Then talk about the meaning together and watch what happens when everyone knows the song they’re playing.
If you’ve got a motivating Vision you spent some time working on, I’d love to hear about it – send me a note!
Here are a few resources that I’ve found interesting and have been sharing with clients:
1 // Motivate your team with some clear pieces that tie to a Vision. (5 min read)
2 // For those looking for a new role, there’s power and strength in casual connections – or “strength in weak ties”. (5 min read)
3 // Self-doubt is usually evidence of healthy humility. (5 min video)
