On the book Full steam ahead - Essay Example

What is Vision? A clear sense of where the organization is going is its vision. It defines the pattern in which the organization will appear and behave in the future. Sometimes the vision of an organization is what it wants the world to be. For instance, a charity organization may have a vision of ‘Poverty free world’ that’s the dream it wants to live.Why is Vision important? Vision is important as it helps people to make not only right but smart choices. They always choose everything; from cost reduction to expansion, keeping the end result in mind.

So when short term goals are accomplished, the manager doesn’t pause thinking ‘what to do next?’, instead he has very clear instruction or vision that helps him to make his next move. It is especially important for leaders as leaders (managers) are in the driving seat. They need to steer the machine to destination while keeping it on a safe track. If managers or employees don’t know what is the goal then leadership becomes useless. “Without a clear vision, an organization becomes a self-serving bureaucracy” (Stoner)Two Aspects of Vision; Content and ProcessContent refers to the common-sense angle.

It contains some true statements, most probably based on relevant facts. Logically, it can be true or false. Content also refers to consideration of anything (vision) at its face value. Process is the impact of the content. Process gives context to the content and drives it.Three elements of a compelling vision are purpose, picture the future and valuesAnyone can come up with a vision or a dream but to be able to have a compelling vision but one needs to have the purpose behind that vision. This is the real fuel of vision.

Purpose can be anything. Your purpose can be to become the investment firm that makes more money than any other investment company or your purpose can be to have offices located at places even where giant corporates don’t have a facility. Picturing the future has both psychological and physical effects. Once this purpose is gets fused with the future-picture (the dream) possibilities become endless. And to make sure that all goes on well and the company/management doesn’t engage into something which is looked down upon by law or society, the firm needs to place core values.

This is how your arsenal gets equipped with a functioning VISION. NASA did not place a man on the moon after the famous Apollo mission because its vision lacked purpose and value.A vision needs to be created, communicated and livedA vision is created not by asking the top management of the company to simply plan out something and then announce, “Here is the vision”. A vision is created through dialogue where all important people have their say in it. The process can be related to brain-storming.

Visioning is not a onetime thing, it is an ongoing process. It needs to be communicated to the personnel of the organization so that everyone knows what is going on and where they are headed to. A vision needs to be lived. It is lived by;Focusing on your established goals - Always!And proving commitment to achieve those goalsWorks CitedStoner, Ken Blanchard and Jesse. "The Vision Thing: Without It Youll Never Be a World-Class Organization." Winter 2004. Leader to LeaderInstitute. 20 June 2011 .