The Vision Thing: What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

THE VISION THING: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

Four blind servants of the king were asked to describe an elephant. They were led into a room by the king's vizier, where the king's finest elephant stood. Each grasped a different part of the massive beast's body. Being unable to see the entire elephant-the 'big picture'-each blind man developed a unique idea of the true nature of the elephant.

The first blind man, grasping the beast's trunk, concluded that the elephant was like a snake. Since the 'snake' was huge, it had to be very strong. It was most certainly very dangerous, since any serpent of this size would surely squeeze the life out of a man. Elephants, he concluded, should therefore be avoided at all costs.

The second blind man, grasping the elephant's massive tusk, exclaimed that surely the elephant was like a spear. Possessing such a massive, well-formed weapon would make a warrior invincible. Elephants, he concluded, must be hoarded in great numbers in readiness for war.

The third blind man, grasping the elephant's ear, concluded that the elephant was like a bat or a bird. Since it was large enough to be a strong flyer, it would be able to carry a man above the earth and fly to distant lands. Elephants, concluded the third man, could show their owners the world.

The fourth blind man grasped the great animal's leg and concluded that the elephant must be like a tree. Thick, tall, and covered with rough skin, the elephant was probably most useful as building material. He therefore concluded that elephants should be gathered and cut into boards.

The king's vizier threw up his hands and exclaimed, 'How foolish are these servants! They cannot see what is before their faces! No longer does if surprise me that so little is accomplished by these wicked men!'

But the wise old king was not impressed. 'Good man,' he said to his vizier, 'you alone of these men know what the elephant truly looks like, yet you expect the others to see without your help. You must lend your eyes to them before you can expect them to see.'

Many of us are like the vizier, assuming that our employees lack vision. It is 'their' problem, not ours. Meanwhile, employees, lacking a clear idea of the 'big picture,' form their own idea of an organization's true nature. The net result is an uncoordinated effort and lost opportunities.

• French Proverb

Are your producers blind? Do they understand your agency's mission? Is that mission clear? The answers to these questions are fundamental to your success as an organization. No one can expect maximum results from blind servants.

There's something remarkable about the human mind: It's able to fill in the blanks when it lacks complete details. We're all skilled at allowing our minds to read between the lines and developing complete pictures from sketches of ideas.

Although this ability serves us well in some situations, it also causes plenty of problems. Have you ever tried to develop a program with insufficient information, only to find that your image didn't match that of your client or associates? It happens to all of us. In our 'Vision in Action' workshops, when we ask people to draw pictures of complicated concepts with only sketchy information, the results are often funny.

As with good drawing, the keys to developing an effective agency mission are clarity and simplicity. In other words, the big picture must be well-developed and effectively communicated upstream, downstream, and horizontally-so that everyone in your organization can use it on a daily basis. One client of mine had a mission statement that was filled with such terms as 'strategic deployment of resources' and 'maximizing stakeholder value.' I asked him how all this complicated mumbo-jumbo affected each decision he made. He gave me a blank stare. Of course he didn't use any of that stuff. And neither did the rest of his people. His mission statement was worthless-irrelevant to the agency's daily functioning. He was like the king's vizier, expecting blind men to understand the big picture.

Think about the mission statements you read in corporate annual reports and such. 'To leverage the strategic elements in our resource portfolio such that they maximize stakeholder . . .' etzzzzzzzzzzzzzzetera. Wake me up when it's over. Compare that junk to the Boy Scouts' 'Be prepared.' Which mission statement seems more effective?

As you choose this path of leadership and vision, remember that the process of developing a clear, concise, and effective mission statement is a two-step process:

1. Re-draft and refine your mission until it inspires you with religious zeal.
2. Have everybody develop a plan of action that is supported by his or her personal values and that supports the agency mission.

One of my clients had a mission that called for a 500% growth rate in the next two years. While every employee in the company was clear on that mission, not a single one believed it was possible. So even though the mission was clear and simple, it remained largely irrelevant to most people in the company.

There were two things wrong with this mission. First, it was not believable in the owner's eyes. If it had been, he would have promoted it with missionary fervor. Second, the mission didn't pass the 'snicker test' with his employees. They didn't believe the goal was possible-not because they lacked the resources but because they lacked the will.

To inspire action, a mission needs two essential qualities:

What are your values and dreams? Do you really know? If you can't state them with enthusiasm within one minute, you don't know what they are. You're a blind leader.

Step one in communicating your mission is knowing what matters to you. Think of it as a cause. What's your cause? What is so important to you that you would support it with religious zeal? When you know what that is, you're on your way to incredible results. You're also on your way to destroying the competition, because no one can compete with a committed crazy person. And that's what you have to become. If you're not the high priest of your vision, complete with pulpit-pounding enthusiasm and a missionary 'spread the word' attitude, it's going to be very hard to get others excited about your cause.

Step two is to have your simple, memorable mission everywhere. Some Japanese companies sing a company song every day. Is your mission short and concise enough for a bumper sticker or a t-shirt? It had better be, because that's where it belongs. Is your mission printed on your stationery? Do you start off every company meeting by referring to it? If not, you aren't really using it as a guide. It's irrelevant.

There is no magic formula to developing a clear, concise, and effective mission. It simply needs to reflect your values and dreams in a way that inspires you to inspire others. If your current mission doesn't do that, it probably isn't a real mission.

After a staff meeting one day, one of my managers approached me with one of those profoundly simple questions, the kind that a friend of mine describes as 'shallow enough for a baby to swim in but deep enough to drown an elephant.' She asked, 'Why do you think I usually accomplish things I want to rather than things I'm supposed to?'

That question hit me like a ton of bricks. It changed my thinking on why some people achieve their goals and why some fail. And it has a direct impact on why your agency mission may be irrelevant to most of your employees.

The answer to my friend's question was that we fail to accomplish something because we chose to accomplish something else. For instance, producers who value integrity more highly than money will not close every sale, even though they probably value new business development as highly as you do. By missing out on some business (which some would call failing), they are actually choosing to win at something else. They are affirming their values.

This is often an unconscious process, meaning that the producer cannot really explain why he or she 'blew' a deal. The common excuses are 'I just didn't feel good about it,' or 'It didn't work for me.' These producers are not poor closers, but poor manipulators. Something about the prospect's situation convinced them that their services were not the best possible solution. Imagine trying to help these people to achieve their goals by sending them to a sales-closing technique seminar!

Every one of your employees needs to spend time developing a list of their career values. My clients usually ask employees to list their career values and then prioritize them. This is a great way to understand why people behave the way they do. There is simply no other way to motivate people in the long term than by helping them manifest their highest values. After values are ranked, goal setting and action plans should be developed. The accent should be on moving toward one's highest values.

As everyone comes to understand their values better, there will be conflicts between where your agency is going (your mission) and where some individuals want to go. Just like the king's vizier, you have to be able to help everyone understand that their vision, or action plan, must be a part of the bigger picture of the mission. Do this by going back to values. Concentrate on honestly working the conflicts out, with a sincere commitment to helping both the agency and the employee get where they want to be. If you can't align the agency's mission and the employees values, it may be time to start recruiting people with values similar to your own.

The simple fact is that when employees share the agency's values, every action they take moves the agency closer to its ultimate goals. When agencies operate from a framework of values-driven action rather than revenue- or production-driven action, many of the pieces that seem to be missing fall into place. Producers are far more motivated to put their hearts into the agency mission when it supports their values. Customer service representatives are more helpful and sincere when doing so supports their values. And leaders find greater enjoyment in running the business.

The bottom line is simple: If you are operating like the king's vizier, expecting your blind servants to understand how the sum of the parts somehow equals the bigger picture, you are the one who sees the least. But if you can build a beautiful vision out of the perceptions of many, you are truly on the path to enlightened leadership and vast rewards.