A Vision is a Promise. Are You Keeping Yours?

Are you a person of your word?

As a leader, when you lay out a vision, you are creating a promise— that the future state will be better than the current one. People buy in to that vision based on their trust in you to get them there.   It’s up to you to deliver. Making the vision a reality means you kept your word.

The way you get from “vision” to “reality” is through execution—by getting things done.

Execution is important because it fulfills the promise of the vision.

It’s about planning, analyzing and creating momentum. But before you rush off and “go do”—think about adding another piece to the execution puzzle. What role will feedback play in your action plan?

People need to know how they’re measuring up to expectations. I’ve often said, “In the absence of feedback, people make things up.” When there’s an information void, people can be real creative on the meanings they make. Unproductive speculation threatens the vision. Help your team put their creativity elsewhere by providing feedback.

When giving feedback, you must balance two aspects: addressing problems and offering praise. Don’t be stingy with either. Failing to address problems immediately leads to people getting off track. Not bothering to praise people leads to lower morale.

Is the landscape of your workplace littered with broken promises? If so, you have a real opportunity to be different from other leaders . . . and to make a difference by delivering on the vision you created. Providing feedback to your team will help them keep you true to your word.

 

 

photo credit: istockphoto.com

Disclosure: the concept of Execution through Analyzing, Momentum and Feedback come from the newly-released Work of Leaders™ assessment from Inscape Publishing. My consulting company SkillSource is an authorized distributor of Inscape Products.

Would you like to see how you can use these concepts to help lead your project team or work team? I’ll send you a sample report.

Send an email to info [at] people-equation [dot] com with “Work of Leaders Report” in the subject line.