Reproduce Your Vision in New Directions
Good morning, fellow leaders. As I was throwing around possible blog titles here in the Businesscoach.com offices, this one seemed to hit the “haven’t heard much said about that” target pretty well. We often think of vision work as only involving bigger goals in the same familiar direction. Makes sense, if you just want more of what you’ve already got. But what if you want something completely different?
The only way to get something completely different is to think about directing your business into new pathways altogether. Gary Henson, the founder of Businesscoach.com, has an almost reflexive habit for this that I admire and draw from, more than he probably knows. But what if you’re not that way as a business leader? How do you generate vision in totally new directions?
Answer: let your key employees do it for you!
I’ve learned this as I’ve worked with and for task oriented but “less than creative” leaders. They let the new ideas come from unleashing their employees to be creative. They know that some of the best new directions in a company can come from the people in the trenches, if they are allowed to think freely. So, encourage new ideas from your key people regularly. Make room for freewheeling discussion in your meetings regularly. Loosen up the work load on people a little so they’ll have an amount of time to brainstorm in teams on problems a bit.
And when an idea is generated that’s audacious, out there, and not just a stretch but a leap of vision, don’t say “No!” , say “Go!”, and let them run. If it fails, don’t follow up with criticism, but ask “What’s the lesson for all of us in this?” Then ask the critical next question: “So what’s your next new idea?”
They’ll talk about you for weeks.
I hope this little bit of audacious thinking helps you in your efforts today! And as always, if you have any stories or questions to share, I’d love to hear them!
Joe Pursch
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