I am listening to Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why, published
in 2009. He uses a phrase in the book, “People don’t buy what you do; they buy
why you do it.” I wrote about vision last week and as I begin to reflect on
2020, I think vision has a prominent role in how the year turned out for many
of us. Vision is impervious to the circumstances of our lives. Vision cannot be
altered by circumstances and the influence of circumstances on everyone and
everything around us. Vision is a powerful tool available to us and when we have
a clear vision the circumstances become, well, circumstances.
The realization or manifestation of a vision is accomplished
through people, we cannot create the reality of our vision without others. That
does not mean that we are not responsible for every aspect of what we are
creating, it simply means we, alone, cannot make our vision real. To cause our
vision to come to life we must do certain things, and to do certain things we
must first be those things. The things we must BE to DO what is
necessary to HAVE our vision come to life are simple and they are not
easy.
First, we are challenged to communicate our vision
powerfully, through having a powerful vision. A powerful vision moves us
forward, creates opportunities that did not exist, causes an industry to change,
or inspires a cultural shift. Creating the vision for why you are doing what
you are doing is the first step in embracing your own vision for the work that
you do daily. Getting in touch with what that is will shift the reason you wake
up and go to work. Finding the why for your project can shift every team member
to view their work differently. Once you have articulated your why, it is time
to BE your vision.
Commitment, staying with it, taking a stand for it, BEING
your vision is what causes it to come alive. It takes perseverance, tenacity,
and drive to continue to live your vision. It takes consistency in visualizing,
in imagining, and in constantly being in relationship with your vision to make
it real. It becomes real for you and those who are aligned and believe in your
vision. When projects face challenges as they always do, it is believing in the
possibility of success that keeps team members striving to continue moving forward.
It is in believing that the work that is being done is important that there is
a “never give up” attitude. Commitment to the vision is contagious. Vision,
when powerful, draws commitment out and causes commitment to BE.
The other way of being that must occur for a vision to be
manifested is consistency. There must be a pervasive consistency of attitude, behavior,
actions, and words which permeates through the leader and the team. There is no
room for decisions that are out of alignment with the vision, there is no room
for actions, behaviors, or attitudes that do not align with the vision. There
is no room for a lack of integrity in any aspect of being in alignment with
vision. When anyone moves in a direction other than the direction the vision
ASKS for, the team is out of integrity. Not one person, the entire team. Checking
along the way is paramount, always be in relationship with what the vision is
asking of the leader and the team and ensure alignment along the way. It is
when the team is not aligned that breakdowns in communication, quality, and
eventually schedule occur.
