Hearing the words “I have a vision” will cause a person to run for the hills or to sit forward in their seat.
Leaders can abuse vision. I have met leaders who, in the light of difficulty or failure, simply announced a new vision. Employees learn not to become too accustomed to a vision because they have learned the cycle of hype, friction, disillusionment, abandonment, and then hype of a new vision.
Accustomed to rapid vision cycles, employees don’t really commit to a vision so much as ride it out.
Still, the proverb remains true, without vision, people perish. Vision captures a preferred future and compels us towards it. Vision still lies at the heart and the art of leadership. As Warren Bennis said, “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.”
In my work with leaders, I have discovered that translation is the hardest part of leading vision. Common errors include:
- Failure to get ownership of a vision before announcing a vision
- Announcing a vision but not communicating a vision
- Communicating a vision in ways that are irrelevant and siloed from reality
- Assuming vision is understood
- Not translating vision into reality with a comprehensive and consistent plan
As a CIO, you have a vision. That vision may be a subset of the larger corporate vision, but it is also an integral thread of the larger vision. It is no less critical, it is not overshadowed, and it must not be the weak link of visions within the vision. The consequences would be too great.
How do you communicate vision effectively and consistently?
Enter the marketing team.
“Your marketing team understands that the closer a person is to the problem-aware level, the more information they need. The closer one is to the commitment-aware level, the less information they need.”
Your company’s marketing team communicates vision(s) all day long. They connect preferred futures to daily realities.
Two questions your marketing team asks in communication:
- What information is important?
- How much information is necessary?
They answer those two questions under the umbrella of these two questions:
- Who are you listening to and talking to?
- What do you want them to do?
Who Are You Listening To and Talking To?
People have four levels of awareness:
- Problem aware. There is a preference in the future they do not currently experience.
- Solution aware. There is a way to get what they want, but they don’t know your way (vision).
- Vision aware. They know your vision, but they don’t know if it is right for them.
- Commitment aware. They embrace your vision and commit to it.
Various groups will call these by different names, but the flow remains nonetheless. The problem with most communication of vision is that leaders jump to levels three and four. Each level is critical in vision implementation, and each level informs the action you want people to take and the information they need to receive from you.
As you know, I am a big advocate of listening and questions. Each of these levels call for particular types of questions:
Problem: What is your objective? What are you trying to accomplish, and what positive or negative is at the heart of your effort?
Solution: What are the current obstacles? What are the opportunities you are trying to leverage? What options have you considered?
Vision: Of these options, what is still left unaddressed? What value do you find in the option I have for you? What makes my option a better solution?
Commitment: What is the best first step? Would you be willing to…”
What Do You Want Them To Do?
The levels of awareness are not true of any particular person or group necessarily. In other words, you may have a team member who has been on board for a month and they are commitment-aware. Your CEO may be at problem-aware. The Board may be solution-aware, but unaware of your vision.
“As a CIO, you have a vision. That vision may be a subset of the larger corporate vision, but it is also an integral thread of the larger vision. It is no less critical, it is not overshadowed, and it must not be the weak link of visions within the vision.”
As a visionary leader, you are moving people through the levels, understanding that at any one moment, people are at different levels.
How Much Information And What Information?
Your marketing team understands that the closer a person is to the problem-aware level, the more information they need. The closer one is to the commitment-aware level, the less information they need. The more complex an issue is to a person or group, the more information; the easier the issue (or the greater the comprehension), the less information.
That said, too much information can be confusing, and too little information can be aggravating. Your marketers process this challenge by continually and consistently communicating three fields of information:
- What are the questions that need to be answered?
- What are the motivations that need to be reinforced?
- What are the barriers that need to be addressed?
Always. All the time. At every level.
As a technology leader, you are working on strategies, plans and actions that lead to a preferred future within your team and within your company. Telling is not selling; a charismatic personality is not persuasion. Force is definitely not buy-in.
Talk with your marketing team. Find out more ways that they communicate on point and consistently. As a CIO, you are tasked with working with a number of different leaders and different groups across the organization. Every interaction is an opportunity to discover a level and move towards the next.
Vision is not an information dump. Vision is an unveiling. Consider an artist who paints your portrait as you sit for it. You know in the end it will look like you. Yet, you look forward to its completion. The subject is not a surprise. The outcome - the color and shades and brushstrokes and framing - is breathtaking.
