It All Starts With Vision

What Do You See?
It was Warren Bennis who said,"Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality."
Vision is a picture of what we believe the future will look like.  It is a reality that we anticipate and a belief about what should be.  

While I have led organizations and individuals through the steps of strategic planning for some time, the issue of vision is a more recent discovery for me. I have learned that while an organization or person may have a plan for success, if I have them place a greater focus on vision, their strategy becomes better and they are more successful.

That Thing We Often Forget

Commit to Reflect and Reward
Once the task is completed, stop and observe what has been accomplished.  Take some time to enjoy the “fruits of your labor.”  Allow yourself to feel a sense of triumph and pride.

Next, evaluate what you have learned and decide what you will do differently next time.  Conducting a postmortem will improve your future performance.

Finally, what was the nice thing you had planned to do to reward yourself, your family or your team?  This “reward time” is where you celebrate the great work done by all.  Having a reward planned in advance is also useful throughout the process to provide motivation and encouragement especially when things are not going well.

Here’s another take on celebration from innovator Sebastian Thrun. "It's important to celebrate your failures as much as your successes. If you celebrate your failures really well, and if you get to the motto and say, 'Wow, I failed, I tried, I was wrong, I learned something,' then you realize you have no fear, and when your fear goes away, you can move the world."

Improve Your Chances for Success

Commit to Plan a Strategy and Set "Time Frame" Goals
The strategy is best planned with the participation of everyone who will be involved in the project.  Write down the steps necessary to be successful and identify who will be responsible for each part.  

Determine a completion date for every component of the project.  Remember that some dates established at the beginning of the project will be unattainable and will need to be adjusted.

A strategy not only requires deadlines but also interim dates for progress checks. Establish predetermined interim points along the way to evaluate progress. Be ready to make changes.  Always be focused as well as flexible as you will inevitably face obstacles and delays.

"The biggest risk is not taking any risk... In a world that changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks."  Mark Zuckerberg