Are Vision And Mission More Important Than Implementation

HOW IMPORTANT IS THE ABILITY OF LEADERS TO HAVE VISION AND DECIDE ON AN OVERALL MISSION? IS VISION MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE SKILLS TO PUT A PLAN INTO ACTION? - POSTED BY LINCOLN SMITH Diverse opinions from leadership enthusiasts and experts identified some great points that, as leaders, we need to consider in order to achieve the best result for our team - no matter what our leadership role may be. Some great themes of this discussion included: * Mission and vision are critical to success * Vision is not as important as putting a plan into action * Vision and Implementation: Different concepts, but both are essential * Does a vision need an initial justification? To view the full discussion of this topic, click here... VISION AND MISSION ARE CRITICAL TO SUCCESS The majority of our members tend to agree that in order to succeed a leader needs to have a clear, well-defined vision. Dr. Katharina Kuttner explains that if a person can define what it is that ultimately drives them to do something, they will inevitably perform better: "In presentation trainings I ask, for example the (often brainy) graduates: "why do you do that in the first place? your presentation doesn't look like you're enjoying yourself", so they come up with: "because my prof told me", so I question "do you do everything someone else tells you?" etc. etc. until we come to a point where they find their very own inner motivation. And the presentation will be much better." Leaders need conviction and belief in order to make their vision work: "A leader who lacks vision is a weak leader. Is that a strong statement; yes. In order to lead the leader MUST know where they are taking the followers, why they are going there, and have a general idea of how they are going to get there. Having a vision is important, but believing in it, heart and soul, is an ingredient many leaders lack. The lack of belief in the vision (otherwise known as lack of confidence in the success of the vision) is, in my humble opinion, the very reason the followers begin dissention from the ranks - Donna Wood Vision is also able to safeguard a smaller organisation from future hiccups and assist larger organisations in maintaining flexibility: "For small businesses a leaders who has vision can view the road ahead and hopefully lessen the crises that are so predictable in it's growth (refer to Greiner growth curve) in larger businesses vision enables it to remain flexible and motivated (refer to when giants learn to dance, Rosabeth Moss Kanter) - Chris Fox Much of this discussion centred around how leadership vision allows an organisation to get the most out of a project. An organisation without a clear direction may survive, but will never experience the same kind of success as an organisation with a clear cut vision. Without vision, an organisation can survive, but will not thrive: "Often, senior leaders are without vision or at least an appropriate vision, and some of these organizations perform well, basically running on autopilot, but eventually any organization will fail without vision because, as it's been aptly said, the vision is the future - Rich Maurer Furthermore, when a leader involves their team in shaping the vision, an organisation can experience great benefits. "Creating a cohesive team vision is critical to get the most out of any project, change initiative or organization... I focus on encouraging my team members to look at their own responsibilities and create a vision and commitment of how they can achieve them while staying in alignment with the overall organizational vision and goals. In doing this, I am able to empower the team to be leaders within their own areas of responsibility - Peter Myers The more a team is involved in shaping the overall vision of an organisation, the stronger influence that vision will have on their behaviour: "...the leader bear's the responsibility for shepherding the visioning process, but I don't think it works to put the full burden on the leader to create it. (1) That's a lot of pressure on one person to be right and then enrol the team and (2) when the team co-creates it, the vision has more power... "In all the years I've been doing visioning in the context of strategic planning, I've noticed that when the team is really involved, the vision becomes a real driving force in the business - IF the leader continues to be its shepherd on a consistent basis - Dana Theus VISION IS NOT AS IMPORTANT AS PUTTING A PLAN INTO ACTION Whilst the overwhelming majority of this discussion focussed on the benefits that vision can provide to a leadership role, some contributors claim that vision may not be as important as the implementation of specific plans, or that vision and implementation are equally important. An interesting point was made about vision being less important than encouraging team members to engage with their work to drive success instead. "A vision is relatively unimportant compared to creating an environment that causes employees to become fully committed to and engaged in their work... Did I have a vision? Yes, but I kept it to myself. As employees became committed, they surfaced it so I never needed to do so" - Ben Simonton Rocky Rosebery agrees claiming: "I don't think that 'vision' is necessarily the biggest determinant of a company's success. Words like 'vision' and 'mission' are nothing more than buzzwords if a leader isn't working to implement their plans. Just like the old saying goes, 'it's not what you say but what you do', leadership is about putting the plan into motion"." Some interesting research was brought to the discussion on which leadership qualities successful General Managers found the most important: "IDEAL MANAGEMENT CHARACTERISTIC" "% OF GENERAL MANAGERS AGREEING" "Good "people" skills "75" "Strategic thinker "58" "Visionary "52" "Flexible and adaptable to change "50" "Self management "33" "Team player "32" "Ability to solve complex problems and make decisions "25" "Ethical/high personal standards "23" "While everyone in this thread seems to be saying that vision is more important than implementation may I put up a counter view. A survey of 100 successful General Managers (Re: Karpin Report) found that people skills & being a good strategic thinker ranked above being a visionary - Christopher Golis VISION AND IMPLEMENTATION: DIFFERENT CONCEPTS, BUT BOTH ARE ESSENTIAL FOR SUCCESS Here is a great Einstein analogy to explain how you can have vision but not mission and vice versa: "Einstein was visionary, but he was the first one to tell anyone who would listen that the atom bomb was NOT a use which he had anticipated or intended, or thought was sensible. Would we call his contributions "leadership"? We could say that he had the vision, but didn't have hold of the mission - and if he had seen where the vision would lead, would he have shared it? Would Darwin have? - Eric Davidson Some members highlighted the way that vision and implementation marry together to create a functional leadership role. Without vision, there is no direction, but without implementation there is no way to achieve a vision. "...Vision is vital for any organisation to know where it is going and for everyone within that group to have a sense of place and purpose. Yet of course, with no plan nor the skills nor people empowered, any so called vision will simply be a pipedream. Any vision needs to be real of course and something that we truly own, that we embrace personally. Otherwise it is another sound bite - the leadership world does not need any more of those - Andy Vince One member gave an interesting example of how a friend used vision and implementation to overcome his problem: "Vision is vital but, as so many people have described above, the execution is also critical."I was working with someone last night who is just setting up a business. They had been struggling to make a decision on two different strategies and realised that by having an ultimate vision and mission the decision making process would be far easier. It helped them to ensure everything they are doing is helping them work towards their purpose for existence. There are so many attractive and wonderful and exciting things one can spend their time on but if it doesn't serve the mission then it's a waste of time. Lacking these can mean you spend a whole load of time doing things that in the long term - won't make the difference..." - Alison White When discussing this topic, some members found it useful to distinguish between vision and mission which are different concepts, but are both necessary to achieve the best result: "Vision and Mission are critical, but they each play very specific roles in the management of a team. Vision is aspirational - almost unattainable (though sometimes that turns out not to be true once people have committed to it), and Mission is very directional - Dana Theus Another member further distinguished between the specific purposes of 'vision', 'mission' and 'skills', claiming that whilst they are different, they work together to create the bigger picture: Vision is the destination, it shows your followers where everyone (hopefully) wants to go. Mission is a process to realize the vision, and can require multiple missions to reach the vision. Skills include the ability and competencies to make the vision come true. You could say that vision provides the map, mission provides the car, and skills provide the driver to get to where you are going. If you are missing any one of these, you are not going anywhere - Mack Arrington DOES A VISION NEED AN INITIAL JUSTIFICATION? One more interesting point that cropped up during this discussion was regarding whether vision required an initial justification or if should be allowed to flourish and grow of its own accord. Some of the greatest visions don't have an initial justification, ROI or obvious success tied to themits just a vision of possibility. Think of the internet. I used to work for a company that would take on the jobs that no one else wanted because they were technically too complex. We lost money on every one of them in the short term. But a few of them ended up bringing in millions of dollars in sales. Great visions have value well beyond their original intention - Peter Myers This comment really highlights the need to maintain flexible with a vision... because if you aren't, then it may impact on your end goal by restricting possibilities. Share/Bookmark