Advancing Your Leadership Strategy Through Vision Casting
Visionary: noun: one having unusual foresight and imagination
The above definition of “visionary” comes from Merriam Webster. While we generally reserve the term for folks like Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Sheryl Sandburg, those towering figures who have applied their genius to change the world for the better, the reality is we are all blessed with that beautiful and uniquely human thing called an imagination. That makes every one of us a visionary.
The start of a new year is a great time for any business leader to apply the gift of imagination to what we call “vision casting,” the process of strategically looking ahead to craft and communicate a clear vision that excites and energizes the team, provides fresh focus and direction, and propels the organization toward a shared long-term goal.
As a leader, you can ask your team to quickly and clearly articulate where your company is today, where you intend to go, and why. If yours is like most businesses, their answers will vary widely. That’s the beauty of vision casting; it unites your team around clear goals and a singular message, bringing them fully into the process, so they’re invested and feel like their growing with the company.
Vision casting enhances and facilitates your overall leadership strategy by clearing away the clutter to establish and communicate your intentions for the coming year.
As counterintuitive as it may seem, a good way to start any vision casting effort is to take a quick look back, retelling the company’s story and reinvesting in your prime mission while taking an objective look at the wins and losses of the past year, conceptualizing a future that increases the former while decreasing the latter.
While the “vision” word may not appear on your daily to-do list or your company’s bullet-pointed priorities, it’s one of the keys to the health and longevity of your business and to unlocking real passion and commitment from your employees. At FocusWorks, we take a bold, problem-solving approach to the process of vision casting. While people often think of vision as the purview of CEOs and founders, we believe that a shared, authentic vision should be instilled into every corner of your company’s culture.
As part of the FocusWorks Leadership Development Series, our one-of-a-kind Visionary Workshop offers a lively, interactive session that taps into your employees’ imaginations and invites them into the process of envisioning and executing a bold-and-bright future for your organization. Imagine that.