True leaders are visionaries. Leaders provide direction and bring about change. Leaders not only directly affect financial markets and the fortunes of other stakeholders but also the careers of their people.
Developing a vision is one thing. Getting the vision executed in a timely manner is another. In a nutshell, a leader must try to use the full talents of the available human resources by aligning individual activity to the visionary corporate goals.
What a Leader Must DoIn order to achieve set goals derived from the vision, the leader must inspire all subordinates and their staff to:
- embrace and share the vision
- become advocates for the vision
- focus on the goals set by the vision
- accept and formulate changes to make the vision a reality
- enthusiastically act upon the vision
- play an individual part for the vision
- have an incentive to see the vision through
- to accept reward and recognition for implementation of the vision
Why a Vision FailsMany good vision plans fail. Most of the time this is not because the vision was wrong, or the timing wasn’t right nor was the vision inappropriate for the enterprise concerned. They fail because many leaders expect that all they have to do is provide a presentation to staff and then somehow by magic, the vision will automatically roll out.
Fear Factors of Existing StaffMost staff need a lot more than a presentation outlining a new vision. They become fearful of change. Most common fears of staff are:
- I don’t fully understand why we need to change
- Can I cope with change?
- I feel insecure
- I don’t know exactly what is expected of me
- Is my position/job under threat?
- I don’t know what to do to play my part
- Why can’t I do what I have always done?
- I don’t have the skills to do what they expect
- Who is going to show me what to do?
- Am I alone in my thinking?
Should any leader not recognise, address and counter these fears then failure will result. More importantly, giving subordinates the reason and opportunity to have such misgivings, will impair productivity and rapidly develop an unhealthy corporate culture.
Dealing with Resistance to ChangeResistance to change occurs because of one or more of the following factors:
- Past history of the organisation
- No incentive to change
- No disincentive to remain unchanged
- Lack of skills
- Lack of input and suggestion from all levels
- No (or lack of) clarification of an individual’s role
- No individual targets and goals set
- No road map to know where an individual is to go
What to Do to Minimise Resistance to Change- Pay tribute to organisation history
- Pay tribute to individuals from the past
- Pay tribute to existing staff and their efforts
- Honour the achievements of the past
- Highlight historical changes that met changing challenges
- Develop plans for re-skilling
- Develop and share the roadmap to achieve vision
- Take on suggestions and input from all staff
- Develop incentives for teams and individuals
- Develop disincentives for failures of teams and individuals
- Review position regularly and report positives and negatives back to all staff
- Show absolute leadership and management unity, enthusiasm and commitment to the vision
- Retire those who refuse to accept inevitable change
Get “Buy In” from All StaffTo achieve measurable success, every team leader, manager and individual subordinate must have their “buy in” to the vision.
Remember, all team members want to belong to a successful organisation. Nobody sets out from the start to be unsuccessful (or be seen to be). It is the leader’s job to
light the way forward. This way, team members will make the required changes
voluntarily in order to become a part of the successful community that is the organisation.
The leader must ensure that every individual is aware of the part they must play in order to achieve the desired outcome. Like all good plans or strategies, a number of smaller goals or targets are set which make up the entire vision. The same must be completed for each and every individual. The leader must delegate these values and standards to every sub team leader, manager and supervisory position holder. The leader must then ensure those values and standards have been acted upon in the timeframe set down.
The set goals and targets must and should always be achievable. They must also have relatively short term timeframes. Some goals and targets may have a measurable timeframe of one month whereas others may be on a quarterly basis. Altogether, they will add up to the desired annual goal.
If re-skilling is required, then start it early and don’t do it in a piecemeal fashion.
The Individual Needs Confirmation of What is Expected of ThemAn individual needs a “road map” to know and understand the expected part they are to play so as to achieve the vision. The vision should explain and show why, where and when the direction of the organisation is headed.
The individual (and even minor teams within the larger team) need to know exactly how their part is played out in a number of smaller but achievable steps.
Leaders need to ensure that each individual is armed with their own
“how to follow the road map” plan. This does not necessarily mean loading down an individual with too many KPIs. One to three KPIs are all that is needed and once met new ones added. It is imperative when setting goals and targets for others to achieve that the sum total adds up to the team leader’s/managers own goals and targets. A culture and process of registration and audit must be introduced and enforced to ensure fairness to all as well as providing the measurement basis for any incentive and disincentive scheme.