Direction, Vision, Dream

Those three words, direction, vision, and dream, describe the first and foremost responsibility of leadership.  Before we can expect concerted individual effort, or group work, or team work, there must be a clear picture of where we are headed.  As the old expression goes, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there."  And while the creation of the direction, vision or dream can be done in many ways, the responsibility for ensuring it is in place rests solely with the leader.

I have struggled over the years with which of these three terms is the best to describe what needs to take place.  And while I have chosen a personal favorite, I also recognize that any of the three can work, as long as they are done well.  A good example of this is "direction."  Providing a clear direction for the team or organization is critically important.  To use a geographic reference, if we want everybody moving in one direction, we can tell them the intended direction is "north."  This doesn't solve all our problems, and in fact, creates some new ones.  Even if everyone now understands that we are to be moving north, without maps, compasses and the skills to implement them, we may be mired down.  But at least no one should be heading due south.

    The biggest problem with the use of the word "direction" is that some leaders take that to mean "giving directions."  This interpretation can lead to two leadership errors.  At the low end, they become engaged in giving lots of specific directions (micro-managing).  Even worse, they are often so busy giving "directions" that they fail to take care of their primary responsibility of providing "direction."  Leaders in this snare are so busy telling others how and when to move their feet that they ignore the fact that the steps they are controlling are heading off in the wrong direction.  Concurrently, while giving specific and detailed directions to one group, all the other groups are most likely standing around, waiting, and feeling unempowered since they have no idea where they should be going.

    "Vision" is the term least likely to be misinterpreted, although it is not totally immune.  Occasionally, vision gets obfuscated in corporate babble about desired future end states, long term strategic objectives, and the like.  I once asked third graders if they knew what a vision was and they got it right away.  "A vision is something you see."  That's it!  A vision is a picture of how things should be if we get to where we want to be, and ideally, everyone should be able to "see it."  The Great Communicator, Ronald Reagan had an uncanny ability to paint mental pictures of where we should be going.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. could do the same thing.  Often using metaphorical language, they could help us paint a picture in our own mind's eye.  Such is the nature of a good vision, be it corporate or societal.

    My personal favorite term is "dream."  I resisted this for a long time because most of my time is spent working with senior corporate executives, and, as an organizational psychologist, I worry about being discounted because clients tend to prejudge my profession as flaky and ethereal.  I was afraid that using the word "dream" would only add fuel to their preconceived fires.  But in a course I was teaching to corporate CEOs and presidents, one of them suggested the term "dream" because they use it all the time.  A quick poll revealed that most of these executives had no problem understanding the meaning and importance of a corporate dream.  Most already had one.

    So how do you come up with a great direction, vision or dream?  Some leaders already have a wonderfully explicit vision of where they and their team are headed.  Some other leaders need help in developing a dream.  Here are two techniques I have used.

    Have members of the team write an article for the Wall Street Journal dated five years in the future.  Tell them the WSJ is putting out a special edition on organizations that, in the last five years, have succeeded beyond everyone's expectations.  Then have each member describe their own organization five years from now in its ideal state.  Have them provide as much detail as possible.  Then collect the articles, assemble them in a collection, and redistribute them to everyone.  Determine what the central themes are, and see if there are any real winners that seem to capture energy and spirit.  That's getting close to a dream.

    Another technique moves more toward vision.  Similar to the exercise above, ask people to visualize walking into the organization five years from now.  What would it look like, feel like, sound like?  Have them describe these images paying particular attention to congruent themes.  Capture those images and create stories around them.  You'll be well on your way to creating not only a vision, but a culture to help make it real.

    Just as Dr. King dreamed and shared his dream with America, so must every leader develop and share their dream with their team or organization.  Remember:  If you don't have a dream, it's hard to have a dream come true.

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