Page 45 - HBR Leader's Handbook: Make an Impact, Inspire Your Organization, and Get to the Next Level

Building a Unifying Vision 35

As you think about creating a first draft vision for your organization
or unit, think about how you can respond to the business issues but also be
true to yourself. Consider, for example:

• What values and beliefs do you hold broadly and also specific to
the mission of your organization or the work of your unit?
• How will your leadership values and beliefs actually shape the or-
ganization or your unit for the better?

Once you settle on a focus or theme for your draft vision, also consider
how to be bold, audacious, and inspirational. Don’t settle for a vision that
you know you can achieve, but rather something that will require creative
thought, discovery, and experimentation. Remember that your purpose
here is to inspire and energize, not to tell people what to do.
At the same time, don’t put the entire burden on yourself. As Kouzes
and Posner point out, your job is not to be an emissary from the future with
all the answers about what’s next for your organization. Rather your job is
to start the conversation, point the way, and ask provocative questions that
can help everyone get excited and inspired about the future.

Step 3. Engage stakeholders
Once you come up with your own draft ideas, you need to engage others in
developing and fleshing them out. Involving others with different perspec-
tives ensures that you create the best vision possible and also jump-starts
buy-in throughout the organization. For example, at the World Bank,
Wolfensohn and his senior leaders actively engaged different stakeholders
in providing input and iteratively co-creating the vision based on his initial
commitment to poverty eradication. By involving others, he created a vi-
sion that tapped into everyone’s passions, while also giving many people a
voice in the process.
Every organization is different and every situation has its own unique
characteristics and cast of characters, but to engage stakeholders, you first
need to identify who to involve and then decide what the process of engage-
ment will look like.