Set and communicate a clear
vision. I’m a history professor by
training and trade, and I try to use some of those skills. That is,
try to look back across the history of an organization and identify the enduring strengths,
because it’s those strengths that
you’re going to try and find
ways of taking out into the
future as part of a new vision,
and you may have to adapt
those strengths for a new time
and conditions.
If you find the strengths, you
also find the places where the
organization has not been successful. A lot of it is talking to
people. You can find evidence
by looking in records and
reports, but you learn more
from talking to people.
Articulate the message in a
way that isn’t inconsistent. On
the other hand, you’ve got to
talk to people about their particular role and show how the
vision relates to what it is they
do. Talk to each of these groups
about how the vision applies to
them. So consistency on the one
hand, but on the other hand, try
to work with people about what
this vision means to them and
what they do.
Translate a vision for everyone
in ways that help them understand how they are a part of it
and how their particular role
furthers that vision and how it
can help make them feel more
[like] contributing members of
the organization by adopting the
vision.
It gets everyone moving on
down the same road in the same
direction. If you listened well, a
vision helps you find those commonalities and getting all those
groups to collaborate.
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