Visionary and Voice for Tomorrow

The Citizen Leader is firmly grounded on the premise that leadership, at its core, is the bond we create with others that engages their enthusiasm to serve, to act and to persevere as we pursue our worthy goals. As a leader, our job, indeed our success, is directly proportional to our ability to create, support and nurture bonds with our partners and followers, and to distribute ownership in ways that engage their enthusiasm to take action because they and we are pursuing goals that are meaningful to us all.

How well do your partners and followers understand the goals that you are all pursuing? How well do you articulate the meaning of those goals in ways that engages their enthusiasm to want to take action? Whatever your responses, know that the skill of articulating a meaningful vision or direction is typically among the most poorly and least successfully executed skill among leaders at all levels of an organization or community.

The operative words here are meaningful vision.

Craft Meaningful Vision

Crafting a meaningful vision is hard; it is elusive. For some, it is uncomfortable. Few leaders have much practice, practical experience, patience, or coaching to hone and refine their skill. More importantly, it is difficult because our role as visionary demands introspection and contemplation, and few leaders have the bandwidth or breathing room for reflection.

Nevertheless, our ability to express a meaningful vision and talk with conviction about the future is vital in an environment of constant change, competition and uncertainty. It is vital as we attempt to align the talents and the energies of our staff, our partners, and our constituents in a common direction. It is vital as we attempt to build the kinds of relationships that will engage and sustain their enthusiasm to want to participate, to act and to persevere in face of a myriad of possible and probable obstacles, difficulties and challenges.

By means of a Framework to Create and Communicate Meaningful Vision, I will invite you to dream boldly about a future for your community or organization that excites you. I will ask you to be visionary, to be aspirational, even to allow yourself to be audacious – bold, adventurous, daring about the possibilities for tomorrow. That’s on the one hand. On the other hand, I will keep you grounded by asking you to craft a direction and destination that has direct relevance to your clients or constituents, addresses the current strategic imperatives of your group or community, adheres to your group’s values, and comprehends the forces of the climate in which you operate.

Cascade Shared Vision

In the final section of the seminar, I offer an additional framework to help you and your fellow leaders share the vision with the members of your broader community or your organization and get feedback. Inviting and incorporating feedback is key. The success of your engaging the members of the broader community in actively participating in the vision will depend upon your enfranchising them during the process – literally, giving them the privileges of citizenship in building the vision along with you, and then subsequently distributing ownership to them for taking actions to transform today’s shared vision into tomorrow’s shared reality.