Promoting Vision

The first step to promoting vision is to align personal values. According to Leading Coherently, “…leadership performance was markedly aligned to values and purpose, both in character and behavior” (Stanford-Blair & Dickman, 2005, p. 53). One can only lead out of who he or she is. Hesselbein states, “…leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do it … in the end we know that it is the quality and character of the leader that determines performance and results” (Levesque, 2003).

Step two is listening to your followers. “To attract people from divergent backgrounds and interests, you must discover what aspirations, goals, needs, and dreams they have in common” (Kouzes & Posner, 2002, p. 161). This can be accomplished in any number of ways: eating lunch with employees, being more visible, and “hanging out” (Kouzes & Posner, p. 168).

Step three is aligning visions which is “…the process of bringing individual visions into agreement with each other so they support and complement each other—creating a larger vision that encompasses all the individual visions” (Stoner, Zigarmi, & Blanchard, 2003, p. 10). Once that is accomplished, the means to bring vision into reality can be devised.

Stoner and Zigarmi suggest these steps to creating a shared vision: “Step One: Develop Visions … Step Two: Align Visions…Step Three: Anchor The Vision To Reality…Step 4: Develop Bridging Strategies” (Stoner, Zigarmi, & Blanchard, 2003, p. 17). Acts 1:8, shows the Holy Spirit’s role in effectively communicating a vision in such a way that it becomes a shared vision. Once that vision is shared, then strategy can be devised to make it a reality. For the Christian, it is the Spirit of God providing wisdom and power to accomplish greater things than we could ever imagine (1 Corinthians 2:9).

References

Holy Bible (2005). Today’s New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

(Kouzes J M Posner B Z 2002 Leadership Challenge)Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2002). Leadership Challenge (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

(Levesque C 2003 matter of being)Levesque, C. (2003). A matter of being. Association Management, 55(1), 63-66. Retrieved March 29, 2008, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 277984061).

(Stanford-Blair N Dickman M H 2005 Leading Coherently: Reflections From Leaders Around the World)Stanford-Blair, N., & Dickman, M. H. (2005). Leading Coherently: Reflections From
Leaders Around the World. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

(Stoner J Zigarmi D Blanchard K 2003 Creating Your Organization's Future: the Full Steam Ahead! Field Guide)Stoner, J., Zigarmi, D., & Blanchard, K. (2003). Creating Your Organization's Future:
The Full Steam Ahead! Field Guide. San Diego: The Ken Blanchard Companies.