Practice 2: Inspire a Shared Vision | MGMT 464

Summary

In this exciting session of MGMT 464, we delve into 'Inspire a Shared Vision', moving beyond practice one into understanding how leaders can effectively envision the future and create a shared vision. The emphasis is on developing a vision that everyone can rally around, which requires the leader to imagine possibilities, find common purpose, and engage deeply with team members to see and commit to this vision. The session also highlights the importance of maintaining passion and engagement, encouraging leaders to animate their vision, and involve their teams deeply in the process for successful implementation.

Highlights

• Move beyond crystal-ball-like guessing. Blend accurate information and experience to visualize the future. 🔮
• Develop visions that everyone can see and support, ensuring real realism! 🕶️
• Stay motivated and sustain high engagement with a vision! 🔥
• Reflect on the past, ground yourself in the present, and anticipate the future with passion. 💡
• Leaders should animate visions using multimodal methods to connect with diverse learners! 🎨
• In unique challenges, spin setbacks into opportunities to demonstrate unwavering passion. 🤸‍♂️
• Tap into shared aspirations while crafting the vision to ensure collective momentum! 🔄
• Formulate unique organizational traits that differentiate you from the rest of the pack! 🦄

Key Takeaways

• A shared vision isn't about using a crystal ball but combining past, present, and future insights! 🔮
• Successful visions require everyone on board, from leaders to all team members! 🚀
• Imagining vibrant possibilities and crafting exciting visions can lock eternal motivation! 🌟
• Balancing passion with logic is crucial in evoking genuine commitment! ❤️🧠
• Continuous engagement and listening contribute to a great common purpose! 🎧
• Leaders should inspire not just when things are fresh but remain steadfast even during setbacks! 🏆
• Use stories, symbols, and metaphors to make the intangible vision tangible! 🎭
• Tap into the team's aspirations and build unique, meaningful organizational values! 👥

Overview

This lecture of MGMT 464 takes us on a journey into the art and science of envisioning a shared vision, a pivotal aspect of leadership. Leaders are not mere fortune-tellers but individuals who leverage previous knowledge, insights, and experiences to carve out a realistic and engaging future roadmap that resonates with everyone. A key insight is that a vision isn’t a static image but a dynamic, evolving concept that thrives on inclusivity and collective energy.

Imagining possibilities is one of the primary steps in developing a shared vision. Leaders shouldn't only dream of the impossible but engage in a reflective process that bridges the past with the future, enabling both personal and collective growth. Great leaders usher those around them into this realm of possibilities, leading to increased motivation, engagement, and exceptional contributions towards achieving the broader goals.

Finally, leaders should animate their visions, breathe life into otherwise abstract ideas, and involve their teams in meaningful ways. From utilizing vivid stories and metaphors to energizing speeches and commitments, a leader's enthusiasm is contagious. It's crucial to not only envision but also embody the passion that fuels these dreams, ensuring every step forward is a shared celebration and exploration of ambition.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 05:00: Envisioning the Future This chapter, 'Envisioning the Future,' delves into the transition from Practice One to Practice Two, focusing on inspiring a shared vision. It emphasizes the importance of leaders having a clear vision of the future, akin to being fortune-tellers, using accurate information and valid experiences to chart a course forward. The message is about looking ahead and planning effectively to inspire and guide teams or individuals towards common goals.
• 05:00 - 10:00: Imagining Possibilities In this chapter, titled 'Imagining Possibilities,' the focus is on the importance of creating a shared vision as a leader. The key takeaway is that a leader's vision must be realistic enough to resonate with and attract their constituent group. This shared vision serves to not only sustain high levels of motivation but also to help withstand challenges related to achieving that vision. Envisioning the future is emphasized as a collective exercise that unites people and strengthens the resolve to pursue common goals.
• 10:00 - 15:00: Finding a Common Purpose The chapter emphasizes the importance of two key behaviors: imagining possibilities and finding a common purpose. Individuals should encourage others to contribute to their imagined possibilities. As a group, it's crucial to establish a common goal. The chapter explores the types of possibilities one might imagine, acknowledging that some dreams, like extended vacations, may seem impossible, but there are also feasible possibilities that can drive collective action.
• 15:00 - 20:00: Enlisting Others In the chapter titled 'Enlisting Others', the process of clarifying values is discussed as an emotional and introspective journey. It involves examining one's core beliefs and assumptions across various aspects of life such as human nature, technology, economics, science, politics, and ethics. The chapter emphasizes that visions are like broad themes or messages that leaders use to communicate the essence of what they stand for and what they want others to remember about them.

Practice 2: Inspire a Shared Vision | MGMT 464 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hey everybody welcome this week is a really exciting week because we're moving on from practice one into practice two we're going to talk about how to inspire a shared vision first we're going to take a look at how to envision the future when we're talking about shared vision in order to envision the future leaders basically need to use a crystal ball well perhaps not a crystal ball but you are expected to be a fortune-teller of sorts we're looking for you to have a vision about where we want to go and use accurate information and valid experiences in order to create
• 00:30 - 01:00 that vision and not just a vision but a shared vision one that everyone can get on board with what you see as a leader has to be something that everyone else can see too so it needs to be really real realistic enough to attract everyone in your constituent group so your goal when you have a vision is to attract more people to sustain really high levels of motivation with that vision and to withstand more challenges as they come your way around the vision that you have envisioning the future
• 01:00 - 01:30 really involves two particular kind of behaviors or activity sets you need to be able to imagine possibilities and to find a common purpose so as an individual imagining the possibilities and asking others to contribute to those possibilities and then as a group finding common purpose that will get you towards that goal so let's talk about imagining possibilities there are the type of possibilities I imagine like having 10 days off in a row sometimes those are impossible but there are also the types of possibilities that
• 01:30 - 02:00 come with clarifying values it's an emotional process of self exploration and self cannot a logic not a lot of logic to it visions are reflective of an individual's fundamental belief and assumptions about human nature technology economics science politics are ethics you name it it's all involved in finding your vision but much like a theme a vision is a broad message that a leader needs to convey and the primary thing that they want people to remember about who they
• 02:00 - 02:30 are and where they're headed also when we talk about imagining the possibilities you need to be able to imagine exciting possibilities that have a central theme for a shared vision something that people are going to get motivated about want to be participating in something that makes me want to get up and come to work every day a good example of that is that I had an employee who was kind of a right-hand man a wing man he used to come in every day and he was so excited about what we were doing that he would come in and say is there anything I can do for towards the project today and if I gave him something to do or even if I didn't give
• 02:30 - 03:00 this when they do the last thing he would say before he left my office is Bobby loris and he meant it and that got the team's going every single morning just a concept of being so excited about what you're doing that you want to show up at work every day so in order to keep your possibilities exciting like those we reflect on your past attend to the present prospect for the future and feel your passion and allow others to feel that as well approvement improvement comes when
• 03:00 - 03:30 leaders engage in conscious introspection and ask their teams to do that as well two things you really want to take into account when we're talking about imagining the possibilities is this idea that you not only have to be a fortune teller and be able to look into the future but leaders really need to be able to look into their past the book says that this is a way to elongate your future by gazing into the past and I really like this idea because behind us are usually quite a few mistakes and successes and we can learn from both and
• 03:30 - 04:00 use those to shape a shared vision another aspect of imagining possibilities is paying attention to where we want to go and creating a vision and also keeping our eyes on the ground around us so they call this seeing the forest for the trees if you can't take into account the daily workings while you're trying to create a vision you won't be very successful as a leader other things to keep in mind when we're imagining possibilities are that passion goes hand in hand with the tension people don't see possibilities if they don't feel any passion much like
• 04:00 - 04:30 my fabulous employee if you're motivated to show up and participate and you're passionate about what you're doing it can make all the difference leaders want to do something significant and guess what team members want to do something significant - seems like a no-brainer doesn't it but often leaders will subsume large portions that are maybe meaningful and passionate and leave some of the other pieces behind for their teams to do so make to create a good balance of passionate material for people to do something
• 04:30 - 05:00 significant in their work each day leaders also need to determine the core issues that can help organize aspirations and actions so whatever it is that's important leaders need to be able to name it for themselves so that they can talk about it with others and I think really I would make the argument everyone on a team who's working towards a shared vision should have an elevator speech or a short soundbite about what they're doing that reinforces why they're participating in the work that you are doing so then the second portion of chapter four is finding a common
• 05:00 - 05:30 purpose the very best leaders understand that their key task is inspiring the shared vision not just selling their own view of the world if you've ever seen or have an example of someone coming into an organization with an idea before they've even met a single member of the team or looked at the resources available it can feel very tiring to the employees because things haven't been fully explored they're not taking to account the day-to-day situation they just want to do something because they want to do it but they haven't constructed that shared vision with
• 05:30 - 06:00 their teams what people really want to hear about are their own aspirations and that's where linking back to the idea of asking questions of your team and asking the right questions help you understand what really motivates them they want to hear about how their dreams are going to come home come true and how their hopes will also be fulfilled and they also want to see themselves in the picture that a leader is painting it should be an encompassing vision that makes everyone feel comfortable fitting into the scheme when we're talking about how
• 06:00 - 06:30 to find a common purpose we really need to take the time to listen deeply to others I mean set aside some time to not just ask a question and get a cursory answer but allow people to open up and really express what they want and how that's attached to what they believe you also need to make it a cause for commitment when leaders listen deeply you can find out what's important to the constituents but more importantly you can provide purpose and increasingly the work can become a place where people feel they are connected to their values
• 06:30 - 07:00 you also need to look forward in times of rapid change what does that mean because it seems like rapid changes around us all the time everything's moving at warp speed so your ability to see patterns and opportunities in the type of information that flows in your organization is really key when we're talking about finding a common purpose leaders really need to begin with the assumption that anything is possible it's a little bit like watching an improv show one person says something the other person says
• 07:00 - 07:30 something that's even more unrealistic and dramatic the next person says something that's more unrealistic and dramatic and pretty soon you have an enormous idea that's a great deal of fun and everyone participated in making I think leaders really need to begin with the great giant ideas and hone them down with a team it's this belief that gets them through difficult times it also creates an environment where possibility is really encouraged at every level and that's the leaders challenge is to turn assumptions into it's inspiring shared visions and ideal and unique features
• 07:30 - 08:00 for the common good while still harboring and caring for these little seeds of possibility so let's look at a summary of what it means to find a common purpose you need to not only determine what you care about and drives you but also your team you want to use your past experiences and the errors as clues for understanding your current situation and where your head with a shared vision always ask what's next even when you're completing a project that you're currently working on spend a
• 08:00 - 08:30 lot of time thinking about and finding out about the future and trends listen to your constituents and your team's about what's important to their future and make sure that you seamlessly weave those two things together never make it a top-down process always make it about us a group and weave together your own hopes and dreams with those of the team elevate what you and others are doing from a job to a calling and I think you'll see an increase in investment and buy-in from the teams and the organization around your shared vision
• 08:30 - 09:00 we're gonna talk a little bit about chapter 5 which is around enlisting others I prefer to think of this chapter as vision alone is not enough it's really difficult to get everyone on board with a vision unless they have enough energy and excitement to sustain their commitment to that particular vision and as a leader the majority of that type of excitement falls on your shoulders not only are you a leader with a vision you're an energy generator so you're trying to get people motivated on a daily basis a weekly basis and for
• 09:00 - 09:30 sometimes protracted ongoing processes in order to make extraordinary things happen leaders know that everyone has to really believe in the process every step of the way so enlisting others has two subcategories to it in this chapter we're talking about how to appeal to common ideals and how to animate your vision or make it come to life when we're talking about appealing to common ideals people want to know that what they do matters it's not enough for you to have a vision leadership needs to be
• 09:30 - 10:00 a dialogue so you're really talking with your teams at all times to build up your vision and your ideals leaders help people to see what they're doing is bigger than themselves you have your work you have your organization you have your community and then you may have deeper connections to a region a nation a globe depending on what product you're working with what truly pulls people forward is that they're they can see that what they're doing makes a profound difference to the future and the communities that they
• 10:00 - 10:30 participate in so another way to appeal the common ideals is something that I think is really important generating a unique status or just being unique good leaders communicate what makes their work in their group or organization different than anything else what gives them the edge what makes them special in a way when people understand that how they're truly distinctive and the type of work that they're doing or the type of materials that they're providing they feel really confident in what it is they're doing
• 10:30 - 11:00 and how it can create change on a different level then even any story they've heard uniqueness also makes it possible for smaller areas inside of your organization to feel as though they can each be proud of whatever piece they're participating towards generating the idea that you are participating something unique to your industry also makes it possible for smaller units and a larger organization to feel as though they can contribute to their own unique pattern inside of a larger shared vision so if we have a shared vision and
• 11:00 - 11:30 everyone that's on board feels confident that you're working towards a goal that is not only particular to them but unique in industry it's time to animate that vision or make it come to life inspiring a shared vision is one of the least frequently applied of the five practices if you're wondering why that is it's because people feel the most uncomfortable with it and rarely do people consider themselves truly inspiring it's a difficult role to fill and these are really large shoes that leader hats in front of them the
• 11:30 - 12:00 assumption that the process of inspiring a shared vision is somehow mystical or supernatural or something that only belongs to a certain subset of the population really is what keeps people from feeling like they are special enough to inspire others this particular week in our reading we have the original speech by Martin Luther King I urge you to take some time to look at it this is a person who is living in extraordinary times who found himself a very simple man but had the ability to inspire millions of people and he didn't just
• 12:00 - 12:30 wake up one day and say I'm inspiring he met the needs of a group by representing a shared vision to millions of other people so to take a few minutes and take a look at that if you have time in animating a vision leaders have to animate the vision and make manifest the purpose so that others can see it and so I guess you can't just walk around saying this is who we are and this is what we're doing there needs to be multimedia ways of expressing this
• 12:30 - 13:00 people need to hear it they need to touch it they need to feel it need to represent your vision and as many multimodal ways as possible not everyone learns in the same way not everyone accepts ideas in the same way so make sure you think about the ways in which you're representing the vision when you're working with your constituents the use of symbolic language images positive communication expressing your emotion around it those are all some really solid ways to animate a vision by using metaphors and other figures of
• 13:00 - 13:30 speech giving examples my favorite just telling stories because we remember them so differently than any other information using quotes and slogans if you need to really make this intangible idea of a vision real for people when we're talking about animating a vision we're also talking about the idea that people in general want to see a leader who demonstrates enthusiasm and genuine belief not only in their idea but in others so that they
• 13:30 - 14:00 see that everyone has an ability to participate in a vision and really make a difference inside of it you also are looking for a leader who can remain passionate despite obstacles and setbacks because those are inevitable and will occur but when we're talking about how quickly everything moves when setbacks occur people immediately look to the leader to see how that affected them so think about how you can recover publicly and quickly from the types of setbacks you might experience when you're working as a leader so if you
• 14:00 - 14:30 take away three points from this particular subset of chapter five leaders need to be able to show enthusiasm display their emotions around what's going on and have an unwavering belief and what it is you're trying to accomplish as a team a good summary for the chapter ways that leaders can enlist others and in a common vision and appeal to shared aspirations you have to find out about your team's hopes and dreams you have to show that you listen to what
• 14:30 - 15:00 it is they have to say by incorporating their input to you make sure that they know that what makes their product and service unique is something that's worth engaging in and show them how their long-term interests are served by enlisting in the vision that you have created together make sure you use metaphors symbols examples stories anything that it takes to make your vision real and dynamic and then always be positive upbeat and energetic when talking about the future of not only what you're doing but the organization as a whole and make sure that you always
• 15:00 - 15:30 feel comfortable and confident expressing how you feel and acknowledging the emotions of others as well so for chapter 4 in Chapter five my hope is that you've gotten some really concrete examples of leadership that you can apply when you're thinking about your own philosophy of leadership you might see things in these chapters that you know would be difficult for you to participate in you might also see your strengths so draw on those as you're working on your next draft for your paper and I look forward to seeing you next week
• 15:30 - 16:00 you eita create atmospheres and pointed engagement points pointed engagement points okay recheck okay here we go that's going to him okay