Last year I had the opportunity to visit the beautiful state of Colorado. While we were there, we decided to embark on a white water rafting adventure with Rocky Mountain Adventures in Fort Collins. As we talked with the guide, he gave us a few choices. The Cache la Poudre River offers a range of difficulty levels from class II to class V. For our first ever rafting trip, I still don’t know why we decided to conquer the most difficult section of the river at class V. But, this was a majority decision and I was committed. They fitted us for life jackets and handed each of us an oar.
The guides did an amazing job with the instructions and even had us practicing in a raft on dry land before we stepped foot in the river. The command for forward paddle was “forward.” We were instructed to keep our butt’s in the seat and all paddle aggressively in unison together. We also learned the back paddle, turns, and even how to stop. I actually felt pretty confident when we arrived at the river and boarded the vessel.
Things were going pretty good…until…we hit our first section of class V rapids. As water poured over the sides and “punched” us in the faces, the guide yelled, “FORWARD!”
I remember looking around briefly during one of my gasps for air and saw that the lady in front of me was paddling quickly toward shore. Her husband was slowly doing the back paddle. The guy behind me was in a full “stop” paddle and the other guy across from him had lost his paddle. I thought for sure we were going to die.
This is what its like to have no long-term vision.
Even though they were trained, once the waves hit us, everyone in the boat had their own ideas and plans for how to arrive safely at the “take out.” Luckily, the Rocky Mountain Adventures had started the day by communicating the vision of a safe arrival at the take out.
It took the guide some time, but he quickly reminded the team of the vision, gave direction, aligned them to the task at hand, and was able to get everyone rowing in the same direction.
We got excited and rallied behind the vision.
Does your team know the long-term vision? And, do they know how their daily work contributes to that vision?
Even when people are challenged to meet quarterly numbers, we find they want to understand and rally behind a long-term vision.
Imagine walking in circles for hours and hours with no end in mind. Imagine coming to work every day to punch a clock with no purpose and no clarity around what you are trying to accomplish each day. How quickly would you become dizzy and fall down?
Once you have established your long-term vision, it is important that it is communicated to the rest of the team and that the rest of the team understand, accepts, and rally’s behind the vision! This will take intentional effort. It won’t just happen with a memo posted on a tack board by the breakroom. It must first be embraced by leadership and then cascaded through the organization consistently and intentionally with every possible opportunity.
When leaders can help people see the organization’s vision and enroll them in the process for reaching those goals, the business transforms and truly becomes a place of excitement and hope for all stakeholders. However, leaders are the catalyst for change.
First, executive leaders must formulate a clear and compelling strategy moving the organization in the direction of the vision. Second, create an intentional communication and action plan to cascade the strategy through the organization. Each member of the senior leadership team mirrors the higher level alignment process within their own areas. Note: Many times a poor structure doesn’t allow for cascading alignment and plans…you may need to make some changes (see ‘Question 7’ in my book, Avoiding The Continuous Appearance Trap). Finally, ensure each person in the organization has a clear line of sight to the vision. They must all understand how they contribute to the strategic direction of the organization.
