A common update to an old proverb states that, “When there is no vision the people will perish.”

Completing a quick search on Amazon.com in the Business Section for “building vision” yields over 43,500 results.  Refining that search further to the Management and Leadership sub-heading still yields over 2,000 options for the business professional to choose from when seeking help in developing their ‘vision.’

A simplified view of what a good Vision should be:  an unchanging reflection of who you and what you want to become.

“When there is no vision the people will perish.”  

A clear and compelling Vision provides an ongoing framework through which all staff can align their actions, performance, and decision making thereby knowing that everyday their contributions fuel the fulfillment of that Vision.  This clear and compelling vision provides fuel for each person’s inspirational motivation to do the company’s work.  This clear and compelling Vision provides meaning and purpose for the people in your organization so they know their efforts contribute to a purpose greater then just showing up to work everyday.

Let us help you understand your Vision for for who you are and what you want to become!

You may have read stories in the paper or you may know someone close to you who experienced a life-threatening or a high-stress situation. Typically these folks report that in the midst of this stressfull situation, it seemed as if everything just slowed down, as if everything around them was moving in slow-motion.  This feeling of slowing down was so strong that these people were able to see, and consciously recognize, every thing happening around them in vivid detail.

Is this phenomenon real or imagined?  Can it be repeated in non life-threatening situations?  How can you slow down the pace of your business to see with greater clarity the details of what is profitable, what is effective, what is working, and what is not?  What if you could see every detail of your business in a single moment?

Coaching allows leaders to improve their own leadership disciplines, develop high performance work teams and achieve unprecedented results. 

As much as leaders want to achieve the highest results possible, they are often held back by their own ceiling of capacity as it relates to influencing people. As the leader continually drains themselves in their pursuit of results working ever harder to achieve ever-increasing levels of performance will only lead to burnout. As fatigue and burnout takes its toll, the leader will sometimes blame their own team for miserable results. Due to inattention to the important and instead focusing on the urgent, it could be quite possible that the leader is actually providing little in the way of direction, training, resources or support to their team members. The benefit of coaching the leader through these difficult times helps the leader develop the people on the team through all situations and circumstances. It is only through the development of the people around the leader, that will ensure improved results. As the leader provides the tools necessary to develop their people, new levels of results will be achieved. A multiplication of effort through others is what is needed to achieve results, not working harder. Coaching provides the perspective needed to ensure a balanced and highly effective approach to leadership development.

Revitalizing organizations is actually a more common need then most folks may care to realize.  Entropy, status quo and  traditions contribute to diminished capacity and a failure to focus on the results that make the mission and vision of the organization a guiding beacon to drive toward success in the future.  How often have we seen the work teams, departments or organizations that just seem to be missing something.  And if we were to travel down the hall or across town to a competitor's organization we might find drive, vitality and a collective sense of purpose and commitment.  Why is this and what can we do if our team, department or organization finds itself settled into the status quo, resplendent in its comfort zone, secure in knowing that all will be well (enough) if things don't change too much or at least perhaps only get a little bit worse.

Synopsis:

Two films approach the revitalization issue from different settings and time periods. Similar themes are reflected in both; overcoming prejudices, low expectations, limited resources to achieve desired results. Both films explore the journey the leader and the organization travels in its transformational process.

Glory depicts the story of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment from the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War. Col Robert G. Shaw is commissioned to command the first regiment comprised only of black soldiers, except the officers. Col Shaw takes his mantle of leadership seriously in developing his troops to be real soldiers so they may prove themselves ‘men’ in battle along with the white soldiers who have been fighting and dying for the cause. These new soldiers process through the usual growing pains and hard lessons typical of military indoctrination as their paradigms shift from self to the good of the unit. Col Shaw consistently approaches his command, through his actions and words, to raise up the troops to a higher level of morality and purpose – for the greater good, thereby bringing out the best in them.

As an opportunity to study and evaluate group dynamics and explore leadership from a different perspective I recommend viewing the classic film "12 Angry Men."  Many leadership lessons can be learned from viewing films that explore the leadership episodes people encounter on a daily basis.  Catching a glimpse of juror deliberations gives precisely this type of opportunity for us to learn something new about leadership.

The lesson or the question that we can ask with this film focuses on the issue of leading when you do not have authority to lead.  Although this may sound counter intuitive, this type of leadership occurs every day, in our workplaces, churches and families.  Since part of the role of leadership is to help people face their problems, as opposed to just focusing on achieving a vision.  This type of "unauthorized" leadership changes whole societies for the greater good.   Think Ghandi, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King for large impact examples.  For the everyday examples, think about the co-worker who consistently shines the light on management inconsistencies, the protester, the union organizer, the parent pushing the local school board for better opportunities for the children of the community.  

Synopsis:

 As the film opens the jury of a murder trial is given its instructions to deliberate the evidence presented in trial and to decide on a verdict.  Twelve strangers locked in a room known to each other only by their juror number, 1 through 12, must decide the fate of a young man accused of killing his father in a fit of rage.  The initial vote of the jury is 11 Guilty and 1 vote Not Guilty.  The majority of the men in the room feel this is an open and shut case that should be decided in a few minutes.  But the character played by Henry Fonda, juror number 8, “Just wants to talk about it first,” before condemning a man to be executed for the crime.  [Must be a dominant Feeling type on his MBTI].  This desire to talk it out creates the conflict that drives the other members of the jury to more closely examine their own motives, thoughts, prejudices’ and beliefs.  For the remainder of the film, through discussion, review of the evidence, timing of the sequence of events submitted as fact and actually playing out certain events for themselves, the jury is able to come to a unanimous decision – Not Guilty.  

Analysis:

Juror Number 8 was not sure and despite considerable peer pressure held to his conviction to talk through the evidence before jumping to a verdict.  As an 11 to 1 underdog in his desire to talk through the process and the evidence, he was without a support base. Heifetz (p 186) describes that a person who is leading without authority may have to construct, strengthen or sometimes broaden their base of informal leadership.  As in the case of Juror number 8, his simple approach to seeking clarity in his convictions about the issue initially created the opportunity for one person to side with him simply because Juror 8 was strong enough to stand up to the rest of the jury.  So a base began to develop.  As a leader developing in an environment where he had not authority over the others, he began to illuminate and shape the reasoning process for the others thereby shining the light on underlying pressures, prejudices, and biases.  As Heifetz (p 207) would describe the situation, Juror 8, without any authority, began to modulate the provocation of the others in seeking responsive change.  “A leader without authority can spark debate, but cannot orchestrate it.”  As this process began, also along with Heifetz description (p 208), Juror 8 became a lightning rod as the center of the discussion, debate and provocation. 

Questions for Reflection:

How does a leader without authority to lead know in advance when they are about to go too far? 

How should “authorized” leaders respond to “unauthorized” leaders when the provocation begins, heats up and takes on steam?

Heifetz, Ronald A. Leadership Without Easy Answers,  Harvard College, Belknap Press, 1994