How It’s Created

The next time we met, Jim began the conversation by saying, “I understand that others need to be involved in shaping the vision. I’m okay with sharing my vision with others and listening to their thoughts and reactions. But how much do I allow others to have input? I’m pretty passionate about it. To be honest, I don’t know how much I’m willing to change it.”

I thought about the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It really wasn’t just his vision alone. His vision expressed the hopes and dreams of millions of people.

“I think it’s your job as the leader of this company to ensure there’s a shared vision, to champion the vision, but not to own the vision,” I offered. “Everyone in the company must own the vision. Otherwise, it’s just your vision and not a shared vision. The more involved people are in creating it, the more they will feel a sense of ownership—then it’s not just your vision; it’s everyone’s vision.”

“That makes sense,” Jim replied. “But also I think leaders are supposed to know where they’re going. If I don’t tell them what the vision is, they’ll lose confidence in me. On the other hand, if they don’t agree with my vision, it doesn’t matter how passionate I am—it’s not going to happen.”

“Sounds like a dilemma,” I reflected. “I wonder if it has to be either/or. Take a look at the accounting department. Don’t you find it interesting that a department in a company has been able to create an exciting vision when the larger company doesn’t have one?”

“Good point,” Jim remarked. “It’s obvious that the people in Marsha’s department are energized and enthusiastic. They work well with each other as well as with other departments.”

• • •

Later that day as I walked through the lunchroom, I noticed Jim and Marsha in deep conversation. As I passed their table, Marsha looked up.

“Hey, Ellie,” she said, “Why don’t you join us? We’re having an interesting conversation about one of your favorite topics—vision.”

“I was just asking Marsha how the accounting department created their vision,” Jim said.

I took a seat at their table as Marsha responded to Jim’s question.

“First I encouraged my team to honestly share with each other their hopes and dreams for the future. Through these discussions, we discovered the common threads and developed the shared vision together.”

“Weren’t you concerned that we might come up with something you couldn’t support?” I asked.

“Not really,” Marsha replied. “If something was fundamentally at odds with what I felt was important, then I always had veto power.”

“How did the process work for you?” Jim asked.

Marsha smiled as she answered, “Actually, I found the team-developed vision was better than what I would have come up with on my own. I discovered that when you allow others to be involved in shaping the vision, they bring a wider range of perspectives that enrich the vision.”

“I was impressed with everyone’s contributions. The different perspectives added depth. I think we all learned a lot from each other and developed more respect and appreciation for each other in the process,” I added.

“That makes sense,” Jim said. “The people here are intelligent, have a lot of experience, and really care about the future of the agency. I don’t think it’s a risk to involve them. What do you think, Marsha?”

“I think it might be a risk not to,” she replied.

The next time we met, Jim and I reflected on the importance of involving others in shaping the vision. We realized:

The process of creating the vision
is as important as what the vision says.

• • •

Over the next several months, instead of simply publishing the vision, Jim brought in an experienced facilitator who led a series of company-wide meetings. These were not the typical business meetings where the leaders made presentations while everyone else listened. These meetings were designed so that people participated in real dialogue about the vision and had many opportunities to give feedback. Jim encouraged everyone to voice their ideas and concerns.

Initially a few people were skeptical, saying things like, “We’ve already done this stuff, and it’s a waste of time.” Or, “Wait him out—then things will get back to normal.” Maybe they were concerned that they might have to change or they would lose something. What they didn’t realize was how absolutely and totally committed Jim was to this process. Eventually they got the message.

The majority of us sincerely engaged in the dialogues right from the start. Those in the accounting department were especially enthusiastic, as they understood from experience how powerful this process was and were excited about the opportunity to connect their vision for their department to the agency’s vision.

After lively discussions around purpose and picture of the future, Jim articulated three values that he believed were fundamental to guiding our purpose as an agency: integrity, relationships, and success. During our discussions, we debated whether to add to or change any of these. We also discussed what order they should be listed in. Many people felt that financial success should be ranked above relationships, but Jim was adamant on this and eventually convinced us that if we didn’t take care of each other and our customers through building strong relationships, we wouldn’t be truly successful. He explained that our purpose in providing peace of mind might mean taking a short-term financial loss at times, but our vision was about the long term. It was impressive hearing these thoughts coming from the president of the company. We did decide to change the word integrity to ethical behavior. We also further defined the values, so we could have a shared understanding of exactly what they meant. In this way we would be better able to hold ourselves and each other accountable. After many discussions and lots of shared feedback, we agreed on the following:

1. Ethical Behavior

• Be truthful and fair when dealing with others, legal in our practices, and able to be proud if our actions were publicized.

• Practice what we preach: Our behavior models our products and services.

• Be trustworthy. Say what we mean; do what we say.

2. Relationships

• Make and keep our commitment to colleagues, customers, the company, our community, and ourselves, and cheer each other on in the process.

• Show respect for ourselves and others by listening and being supportive, and by addressing and resolving conflicts.

• Appreciate and utilize diversity so we make smarter decisions and so each person has the opportunity to maximize his or her potential.

3. Success

• Contribute to the growth and prosperity of our company, community, and the environment.

• Pursue excellence in doing worthwhile, highquality work.

People in the company saw that Jim and the senior leaders were committed to a collaborative process in creating our vision. By involving us in clarifying our purpose, picture of the future, and values—rather than presenting those to us—more and more people became honestly engaged. A momentum built. The more we shared our hopes and dreams and the more we were included in making decisions, the more excited we became.

• • •

Seeing the difference between what we wanted and how we were currently operating as a company, some people wanted to start making changes right away in order to fix the problems. Jim explained that many of the suggestions for major changes, such as reorganization, needed to be thought through more carefully. He encouraged people to live with the creative tension as they continued to take an honest look at their present realities and discuss their hopes and dreams for the future.

On the other hand, Jim and others did take action on “low-hanging fruit”—obvious things that could easily and quickly be improved. Meanwhile, the more serious issues with larger implications were studied during that period until they were more fully understood.

Some changes happened naturally. A few people decided that the vision didn’t fit with their personal goals or with their beliefs of where the agency should be going. They left the agency. Others who had been resistant at first became enthusiastic leaders once they realized that the ship was really moving full steam ahead.

Through our sincere conversations about the future of the agency, all of us were creating a shared view of our desired future. Because everyone was involved in some way in the discussions shaping the vision, once it was finalized, it was easy to communicate it. Everyone already understood it and had a deep sense of ownership for it.

During that time, every department in the agency started working on their vision for their team. They created visions that were specific to their team but that were also aligned with the vision for the agency. Marsha acted as a resource to the team leaders, sharing what we had done in the accounting department.

“Things are really starting to shift,” Jim said during one of our Tuesday conversations. “I’m beginning to see the energy and sparkle I’ve been looking for.”

I couldn’t remember ever seeing him look happier.