Vision is a crucial element of leadership, recognized in both Christian and secular contexts. It involves a leader’s ability to envision a future and inspire others to work toward it. Rather than detailed plans, leaders often present a broad picture of a desired future, allowing others to determine the necessary steps.
In the Bible, visions were a key method of divine communication. For example, Joseph’s dreams in Genesis 37 symbolized his future leadership, though initially, they led to his brothers selling him into slavery. Despite setbacks, Joseph’s vision ultimately came to pass.
Children naturally possess limitless visions of their future, often shaped by their surroundings and imagination. However, as we grow, this innate ability to envision the future tends to diminish.
The challenge is for us to tap back into who we truly are, and setting ambitious visions for our future is one way to do that. Three mistakes most people make:
1️⃣ Set a company vision, but don’t teach how to set a team vision
2️⃣ There is no tracking in place to understand whether we are achieving our vision
3️⃣ On an individual level we restrict our vision based on our lack rather than our potential
The third point above is an important one, you may have budget restraints, resource restraints and even a skills deficit but your vision cannot be restricted by your scarcity. You have to tap into your abundance mindset when setting your vision.
A friend of mine shared an example last week where we needed to hire a person with certain skills and experience to grow his business. Despite not having the budget to hire the person now, he wrote out a full job specification which outlined his vision for the role. He believed that he would somehow expand to meet his vision in the next 12 months so by writing it out he committed his future self.
Here is a simple three-step method anyone can follow:
THINK-SAY-DO.
THINK: visualise an ambitious future for yourself and your team
SAY: Write down and capture the vision collectively as a team
DO: Keep it front and centre as you execute ideas that align with achieving that vision
The vision should be both inspirational and lofty but also serve as a guiding principle to decide what we are NOT going to do. It is amazing how we can expand and grow to achieve our visions!