Personal vision, according to Peter Drucker, is what makes leaders have personal mastery or self-awareness. Without vision, there is no self-knowledge, and without self-knowledge, we do not have the ability to learn, to go beyond our own limitations.
Peter, in his book The 5th Discipline, considers self-knowledge as one of the 5 disciplines that make intelligent organizations, and he defines them as a living organism that has the ability to learn. A learning organization needs individuals to learn.
Learning involves acquiring knowledge and skills that allow us to achieve the desired results. And to get to that place, it is necessary to know where I am starting from and where I am going.
Self-knowledge implies getting to know ourselves more, that is, we begin to be aware of our strengths, weaknesses, emotions, moods, thoughts, beliefs, and values that motivate our behavior, and how all of this impacts our results.
So I begin to establish a gap between my current reality and my desired reality (which Drucker calls creative tension).
Going to the organizational level, if we, as leaders, find it functional and motivating to establish this gap, it will be the beginning to promote it in the system, be it peers, colleagues or collaborators of my team. In this way, systemically, individual growth will impact organizational growth.
“If you’re not in the process of becoming the person you want to be, you’re automatically becoming the person you don’t want to be.” Dale Carnegie.
What is vision?
Alejandro Marchesán, in his book “The leader who serves”, defines it as a commitment to an achievement that is visualized and declared before it happens. A great goal and a set of results that, if produced, will make a different future possible.
It is a force that is in our hearts, an impressive source of power. Vision is our compass, our north, it makes us look forward.
Vision is that distinction that enables us to compose a future and not just passively wait for its “arrival”. A vision is not simply an idea. It means abandoning the old paradigm to fix our attention only on the present realities, on the daily, the operational, on “putting out fires”, which tend to push us towards the pit of cultural trifles, such as excuses and postponement.
Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence and The Resonant Leader Creates More, says:
“The task facing leaders today is to identify the ideal vision that will guide their strategies, plans, and policies. In this way, the entire organization embraces that vision and begins to tune in emotionally with her”.
The leader needs to convey the value of achieving that Vision, how the ecosystem to which the organization belongs will benefit, not only its members, but also its customers, suppliers, competitors and the community in general.
This is called shared vision. This sharing of the Vision will give us a sense of group belonging, greater commitment, that we are involved in a company that transcends us, that is beyond us.
How to generate a vision?
The first step is reflect about what changes we want in our life, in any area, here are some questions that can guide us:
What challenges do we want to face? How do I see myself in a month, in a year, in five years, what things do I see myself doing or would like to do until the last day of my life? Who do I want to be in my role as team leader? Who do I want to be as a parent, as a partner, as a child, as a friend, as a professional? How do I want to be seen?
Having the Vision “at hand” will allow us to guide our day to day, with more awareness of where I am going, and it will serve as a resource when we stray from it.
“People do not follow the leader just because he has good skills, but for the reason why he does what he does.” simon sinek
by CEDOC