Just some thoughts about vision.....
I once worked with a management team that, very excitedly, put together a
vision for their plant - turned out to be a graphic utilizing their
corporate logo and other components to visualize their purpose.
The end result was quite nice but, as usual, the conversations, synergy,
energy, and excitment that went into creating it was the real benefit.
They were quite ready to go and "communicate" this new vision to their
plant. I had to spend quite a bit of time helping them realize that this
was their vision, not their employees! It was inspiring to them but
wouldn't be for their teams.
Ultimately, they decided that they would take this vision back to their
teams and discuss it, and then have their teams create a vision for
themselves.
A children's hospital's vision might be hard to beat for meaning and
purpose but housekeeping might have a hard time being inspired by it on a
daily basis. But their own vision (for example, "we take care of things
so parents of sick kids don't have to") can provide that daily inspiration
but certainly is aligned with the corporate vision.
At Ford Motor Co., during the famous Lincoln Continental program, a launch
team (the people who went in and fixed problems that came up) was asked to
develop a vision statement. They were asked, "what would a perfect launch
look like to you?" The answer was "sitting with my feet up on the desk,
cobwebs on the phone, with nothing to do." Someone else popped up with,
"like the Maytag repairman." That become their vision for the launch.
They made up posters of the Maytag repairman and put them up around the
plant. What's most interesting about teams developing visions like this
is not the statement or symbol itself -- it's how behavior changes as a
result of the discussion and conversations around the subject.
The launch team folks didn't end up sitting around with nothing to do.
They ended up wandering around the plant and asking if there were any
problems. They became more proactive in a helpful way than they had been
in previous launches.
BTW, the success of the Lincoln Continental program at Ford was largely
the result of Learning Labs that helped people change mental models,
develop systems thinking skills, etc.. The Team Learning Lab is based on
that Learning Lab in a video-supported, team learning format. Developing
Shared Vision is the third module. Many people wonder why it isn't the
first thing people work on. The reason is that far more meaningful and
valuable vision statements are created after teams develop conversations
skills and systems thinking abilities.
Warm regards from rainy Wisconsin,
Claire
Claire McCarty Kilian, Ph.D.
MR Communication Consultants
715-726-0561 (phone) 715-726-0563 (fax) ClaireKil@aol.com
Offering "The Team Learning Lab"...a practical program to improve results
through systems thinking, mental models, and shared vision.......and 15 other
team learning programs.
Check out our website: www.mrcomm.com
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