What are the best ways to communicate your vision as a leader to the rest of the company?

We want to communicate vision because we want to activate effort towards achievement of that vision. We can make speeches, write emails, pound our fists on a podium and exhort those around us, but nothing activates vision unless leaders make believable observable sacrifices. There are four believable observable sacrifices a leader can make:

1) Sacrifice time – How we use our time shows what we value. Go back through your calendar for the last six months and look at the use of your time. Is your time connected to your vision? If not, make it so.

2) Sacrifice money - What choices do you make with the funds inside your organization? Vision without resource allocation is just a wish. Make public monetary trade-off decisions in support of your vision.

3) Sacrifice ego – The first two are easy to understand, the last two require a bit more effort. Sacrifice ego? What does that mean? Being right can get in the way of activating your vision. What are you willing to be wrong for? Publicly acknowledging when you personally break one of the aspects of your vision is an important way to sacrifice your ego.

4) Sacrifice values - In every activation of vision there are moments of truth. These are moments where you choose between the way it was and the way it will be. These are moments where you must publicly slay a previous value.

In short people may hear our words, but they follow our actions. A famous general once said, "You must be careful how you walk, and where you go, for there are those following you who will set their feet where yours are set"

Ian, there is no science to this question but amidst all the great responses above I’m sure you’ll find the way that best suits your audience.

There’s a great proverb that always stands out for me “Vision without action is a day dream, action without vision is a nightmare”.

Here are a few tips to always keep in mind:

• Vision is always the broad picture but its success is based on many smaller milestones. Effectively illustrate to your audience the “big” picture while sharing your wins to keep them motivated and engaged.

• Vision starts at the top. The old Emerson quote reins true here; “an army of deers led by a lion will always defeat and army of lions led by a deer”.

• Make it personal. Most of us are passionate human beings at some level. Passion is a powerful tool, harness it!

Two phrases jump out at me from the responses given thus far. "Frame" and "Consistency".

Many aspiring leaders lack both, yet both are critical to communicating vision to your people.

Your words as a leader will transmit effectively to your people if and only if they are consistent with the underlying structure, or frame, you are building via your cumulative decisions, actions and policy. Your people know if the frame upon which you hang your vision is consistent or not. I know I beat this analogy to death, but only because of its importance: if a vision of team spirit and teamwork is hung upon a frame of individual accountability, reward and discipline, the vision of the highest performing team shall never be achieved.

The same principle holds true for any vision.

If, however, your vision is hung on a frame consistent with the ideals of your vision, then your people will give you their rapt attention, and work heartily to the achievement of the vision.

The best way to communicate your vision to your organization, therefore, is to give greater thought and weight to what you do than what you say.

Together, let's put the fun back into work!
Belldon Colme
belldoncolme@gmail.com

Such a great question! Communicating a vision takes clarity and consistency. Once you frame your message you need to consistently communicate it to employees, vendors, clients, and colleagues. The mistake that leaders make is saying it once and expecting that people will know it to be true. They need to hear it over and over again in conversations throughout the week, month, year, and throughout the organization. They need to hear it from all levels of leadership. THIS is how the employees will know the vision is real.
And the adage ‘actions speak louder than words’ is very true here. A vision is only as true as the implementation. Otherwise, it’s just words. So, consistent communication of the vision combined with actions that work toward the vision will cement the idea in everyone’s mind.

Great question Ian. I've found that ongoing dialogue in small groups works well. You can also do it individually so that people feel valued. The idea is to help people feel important and part of the decision-making process. It also helps to allow people to comment and give their input.

Great question and congratulations on seeing the importance communication plays in sharing your vision as a leader. I am more in favor of one big meeting where everyone is able to hear the same message at the same time. I would also recommend that you follow that up with subsequent smaller meetings to gather feedback and respond to questions and/or concerns.

Presentation format, reminder cards etc… are all fine in how the message is being delivered, but the most important things to remember is what you communicate verbally should be backed up through action and behaviors.

Communicate openly and frequently and you will be fine!

Good luck!

Concur with Imran. This is all about how people act and behave, not what they say. The vision is created by people observing the behavior of their leaders, if this behavior is consistent with their words, then a shared vision can be created, but if the behaviors are at odds with the words, then anarchy will win.
You have to live it, breathe it, spend your time and money on it, be consistent about it, take no prisoners over it, constantly talk about it, use it in discussions. Everyone in the company should have absolutely no doubt in their mind that the vision you are demonstrating is the way that the business operates, and this includes not just the people who work for the company, but customers and suppliers as well. And the message across these groups must be consistent.

Ian

I'm not sure how big or small your company is. ...

If it's a small team, the Business Vision Statement (BVS) is provided to and talked about to future employees and consultants.

If it's a larger company, a draft of the BVS is created by the CEO, then the top of the management is brought in to discuss and tweak it. Updated wording is agreed upon by the CEO. It starts out by becoming a team effort, with easy buy-in. Then each team and staff member create a vision for their position within the company (or department, etc). It becomes a vision from the top down.

The best way to communicate your vision is multiple times in mutliple ways. Meetings, internal communications and ongoing communication. You need to live your vision.

S

The method depends on the size of the company to some degree but in general the process is similar. The key is the vision of the company must become understood by all and a living breathing means of doing business and measuring strategic initiatives, processes, and decision making. The key is communication, communication and more communication.

Some key elements:

1. Start with the key leadership of the organization and get them to buy into the vision of the company. It should be modeled constantly and consistently by this group.

2. The key leadership should then take the vision to the next level in the organization - in essence each of their direct reports. This next group should begin modeling the behaviors needed and expectations of realizing the vision.

3. This process should be continued until all in the organization hear and understand the vision and what is needed.

4. Concurrent with top leadership buy in is the definition of success and what metrics will be needed to know if the organziation is moving toward the vision. If the metrics do not drive the right behavior they need to be changes.

5. All planning, strategic initiatives, and decision making should be measured against the vision. Is it bringing us closer to where we ultimately want to be?

Depending on the size of the organization the method of one big meeting or several smaller meetings will be determnied. The key is to ensure the message is consistent, top leadership is on board, and it becomes a way of doing business. Anything short of that and it becomes a flurry of empty rhetoric.

I believe the power of communicating your company's vision starts with your ability to build an open collaborative bridge that compels employees to want to know more, and to want to get involved.

Remember, a great leader is someone who has a clear vision and can turn that vision into a vivid picture that others can see. When you speak about your vision, it should be with a passion you feel in your heart, a passion that creates so much enthusiasm that your team will want to jump on board. When major decisions need to be made, you should encourage everyone to use the Q-CAT system and be responsible for his or her own actions. And you should be continually assessing your own character and never stop growing, personally or professionally.

in my opinion as a leader you should get everybody to contribute in making decision more or less work as a team

Communicating the Vision is important and should be done regularly. Equally important is to make the vision part of the operations of the business.

Vision is the highest order goal and the strategy and tactics of operating the business should align with it.

When planning and goal setting, if people ask "how do these strategies and tactics support the achievement of our vision?", it helps to keep the vision real and alive.

If it is just a statement hanging on the wall in the lobby and not a relevant part of the everyday business, it is useless.

Develop the vision with the organization (capture the thoughts of others, build on great ideas).
With the vision team, meet to craft the vision and test for clarity (is the message clear?)
With organization leaders, plan how to announce the vision (reinforces the vision).
With organization, listen for feedback (tests that they get the message).
Ask organization what they will do differently to meet the vision (test for buy in).
Ask organization how they will measure success (keeping vision on the radar).
Meet with organization on a frequent basis to review performances (constancy of purpose).

I am not sure how many meetings this is but it certainly is not one.

Follow this path and by the time you are done the organization will be able to quote the vision and mission statements without reference. As importantly, again without reference, they will be able to precisely state what they do to make this mission possible and what have they achieved to date.