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My friend and professional futurist David Houle posted a blog recently about the state of K-12 education. In it he declared:
“There is so much noise, finger-pointing and argument about K-12 education today that it became clear to me that there’s a lack of vision. Many people have points of view, but they are relative to practices they either criticize or support, all based on the present landscape.”
Isn’t that just like so many venues of our lives, where we’re plugging the holes against change, trying to restore what is familiar to us? Without realizing it, we attempt to create a tomorrow that looks quite a bit like yesterday, even though the tomorrow we’re driving toward will be quite different from what we see in our rear view mirror. That has consequences for those who look to you for leadership and that, correspondingly, impacts your success.
In doing research to update my Keeping the Best program, I’ve read many reports about what people find motivating, what causes people to want to give all their discretionary effort and what makes the best people want to stay instead of jumping ship when a new opportunity comes along. Of course, there are quite a few answers to those questions, yet one of the most powerful is having a clear statement of vision – your, “THAT WAY!” declaration.
The people who look to you for leadership can only do their best work to move your wagon when they know which way to pull on the rope. And there’s an enhanced payoff for you to declare your vision, because, “The presence of a strong, unifying . . . vision can also promote a trusting environment,” says human resources expert Susan M. Heathfield. When we know where we’re going, when the “why we’re doing this” is clear and compelling, we feel both safe and inspired to give our all.
The question is whether you’re offering just a point of view that tries to return us to a tired, familiar yesterday or, instead, you’re declaring a clear and compelling vision for tomorrow.
Everyone who looks to you for leadership wants to hear your vision. They need the foundation of your clarity, so tell them about it. Today is a good day to do that.
Need a little support in framing that? Just contact us – we’re all about “THAT WAY!“
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If you’d like to have a closer look at the work of my friend David Houle, just click on this link to Evolution Shift.
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