“Leadership will flow to those whose vision can inspire the members of the team to put their best abilities at the service of the team. These leaders will create rather than demand loyalty; the best people will want to work with them. They will communicate effectively with a variety of people and use the conflict among diverse points of view to reach new insights. They will exert influence by the values they choose to reinforce. They will make leaders of their team members.” from John Clarkeson, Jazz vs Symphony, 1990
Too often we overlook that one of the best ways to engage people is through being authentic and articulating a compelling vision of why the work we are doing is important.
Among my clients, everyone is driven and visionary, but the difference is often in how well they are able to articulate it. Part of the work I do with leaders is to help them surface and share their vision.
It’s easy to overlook the why behind our vision because either a) it is so intuitive and (seemingly) obvious it doesn’t occur to us to articulate it, or b) because we are focused on how to get it done that we forget to talk about why we are doing the work.
Taking a pause and helping everyone orient towards the same north star of the purpose of our work can unleash the creativity of your team in ways you probably can’t even imagine. It can turn employees into allies and co-conspirators who are as eager to accomplish the goal as we are. It helps them find their own purpose in the work, which makes all the difference in the world.
Teal Executives 