This morning, gentle reader, we will continue our brief exploration of four ‘Vision’ considerations.
2.) With the advent of the Industrial Revolution in our country there emerged a new social contract: long-term loyalty. The person (and in many cases the person’s son or daughter) would work in the same organization until retirement and the organization would, like a benevolent patriarch, take care of the employee. A brief study of organizational life today confirms that this social contract is no longer operative. Industry is no longer the back-bone of our economy – it has gone the route of the farm – some industries still exist here but they are no long near the norm.
The social contract is not ‘dead’ however. There are folks who enter and remain for years in an organization. Why? It appears for two reasons: Commitment and Emotional-Ownership of the Vision. Commitment is rooted in ‘Caring.’ I care about the people I work with, about the service we provide, about those who benefit from our service, and I care about high achievement. I care enough to freely give my discretionary energy to my work; this is the energy that money cannot buy. In addition to ‘commitment’ I also freely choose to emotionally own the Vision. The Vision stimulates my spirit and passion for who we are as an organization. I have helped emerge the Vision and so I claim ownership of the Vision. Commitment and Emotional-Ownership are integral to one another; in order to thrive they need one another.
Commitment is an act, not a word. –Sartre
3.) W. Edwards Deming’s quality movement in Japan dramatically changed the meaning of ‘quality’ for organizations. Today ‘quality’ continues to be a word that is espoused, if not lived out, by many, if not all, organizations. A ‘compelling Vision’ and a ‘Commitment to Quality’ helps engender emotional ownership. In the early 1980’s Harley Davidson had gone from making the best motorcycle in the world to making the worst. The Board of Directors decided to purchase HD back from Brunswick (who had expanded from bowling balls to motorcycles – not a good fit) and then to emerge a new, compelling vision and then to hire someone from outside of the industry to lead HD. The new president met with the employees in Milwaukee and told them that they, not he, knew how to make the best motorcycle in the world. Their task was to design the processes that would enable them to do so; his job was to listen to them and to ensure they would receive the resources they needed. The Vision, plus the challenge, plus the belief in others, plus the commitment to them and to quality resulted in HD once again producing the best motorcycle in the world.
Quality is not an act, it is a habit. –Aristotle
4.) Because our culture is rooted in a war metaphor, we value ‘strategic planning.’ I cannot begin to count the number of organizations that have developed a strategic plan, bound it nicely and put it on the shelf. I have experienced that organizations that emerge a ‘Developmental Plan’ are more likely to actually use the plan. A Developmental Plan is rooted in the Purpose, Vision, and Mission. Some guiding questions might be helpful: ‘Who are we?’ ‘Why do we exist?’ ‘What needs do we meet?’ ‘What do we truly seek to accomplish – and Why?’ ‘What is the path we are following – Why this path?’ (or ‘What is the story that we are writing – Why this story?’). ‘To what extent are we living out the Purpose, the Vision and the Mission that we espouse?’ ‘How many of us emotionally-own the Purpose, the Vision and the Mission – How do we know?’
The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision. –Helen Keller