Page 46 - HBR Leader's Handbook: Make an Impact, Inspire Your Organization, and Get to the Next Level

36 HBR Leader’s Handbook

Who should you involve?
When choosing who to involve in the process, you’ll need to consider who
can provide valuable input and give you different perspectives, and who
needs to buy in and be engaged in the process. Here are some questions to
consider:

• Do you want to limit the process to only a few people? Should
you include direct reports or team members or open it up to a
wider group of employees, or even the whole department or orga-
nization? Working with a few senior people is faster, and you can
facilitate debates directly, but you may disenfranchise many oth-
ers. You also won’t get as much input. On the other hand, when
you engage more people, you also create expectations that you will
consider their ideas, and they may be disappointed when their con-
tributions don’t make the cut. So you need to manage expectations
carefully.

• Do you want to engage your boss or other senior executives?
At some point, your boss will need to endorse your vision, since
he or she is also accountable for the direction and aspirations
for the larger department or enterprise. So the question is really
not whether to engage your boss, but when. It’s probably wise to
alert your boss early on that you are rethinking or reshaping the
vision, share your preliminary thoughts, and get his or her reac-
tions and ideas. Then keep your boss abreast of the process and
welcome input as you go along. By the time you present the vi-
sion to your senior executive and other senior people, they should
already be on board. Similarly, if you are developing a vision for
the enterprise, follow the same pattern, even up to and including
the board.

• Should you engage your customers? Your customers and oth-
ers outside the organization can provide a valuable point of view.
Visions are usually much more robust if they have an outside-in