Are You Filling Sand Bags or Saving a City?

Posted by Perspect

The Why

The Wright brothers believed they could fly – more importantly they believed they SHOULD fly!  They worked relentlessly to eliminate any barriers in the way of their Vision. Doing so, they stumbled upon the principles that would pave the way to their success – they intentionally engineered their Vision.

To engineer your Vision you require Inspiration + Conviction + Action + Determination

The Destination 

Every business, like every journey ends up somewhere (exit, merger, succession, IPO, etc). Some intentionally – those are the ones with a Vision. They are able to describe where are they are going in five, ten, fifteen years; they have a mental picture of what the road ahead looks like. These businesses can speak to their financial, operational, human resources plan and so on. They have an idea of their growth forecast and strategy. This type of clear foresight along with the courage and leadership to follow through dramatically increases the chance of arriving at the destination with deep fulfillment. Being able to say, “We succeeded, we finished well, our efforts mattered.”

As opposed to a desperate sense of wonder, wondering what happened and what could have been done differently?

The Inspiration

Vision provides meaning to the otherwise daily mundane tasks of life. It provides a true north to align to. Delivering mail is no longer handing out paper, it is ensuring Mom’s and Dad’s receive the funds they need to feed their children and support community activities on time. Filling bags with sand is now about saving a city and all of the family memories that it holds. When daily activities are aligned to the right Vision they evoke emotion and inspire action.

There is no such thing as an emotionless Vision. Ever have a dream (day or night) where you felt no emotion? Exactly! A targeted Vision provides the gift of experiencing the future state emotions today – this is what inspires and motivates us to action.

The Purpose

Did you ever experience the feeling of anticipation, maybe for an upcoming vacation that you have been saving and planning for? You know the thoughts of being at your destination, the emotions associated with those thoughts – that’s’ what we’re talking about.

It is always accompanied by strong emotion and the clearer the direction, the stronger the “should be” the stronger the emotion.

If you are finding lack of meaning or motivation, or your workforce is suffering from low morale chances are very high that your Vision lacks emotion or you/your team has not connected with it. Lack of Vision is the main reason we don’t achieve our goals.

For you and your team this translates into purpose, it is the reason to show up. Without it, there is no meaning in the madness … we’re back to tasks.

Sustaining a Vision requires adherence to a core set of beliefs and behaviours, it requires constant attention and bold leadership.

The Question?

Have you cast your vision in way that inspires and motivates people to a common goal?

Inspired by: Visioneering by Andy Stanley