Leadership Practices: Inspire a Shared Vision: Seminar

To “Inspire a Shared Vision” a leader needs to envision the future by imagining the possibilities and finding a common purpose for all members or a team. A leader also needs to enlist others in the endeavor by appealing to common ideals and presenting the vision in a clear and engaging process.

Kouzes and Posner describe leaders as individuals who are dreamers, idealists, and possibility thinkers. The leaders projection of fundamental believes and assumptions must be unwavering and consistent. Team members need to hear a persistent and pervasive message of the organization’s direction, the engagement of all in that pursuit, and the overall impact. The most important aspect of leadership is to inspire a shared vision – a vision that results from listening to others and engaging them in the organization’s processes and operations. Leaders need to make the organization’s common purpose a cause for commitment. By doing so, everyone should feel passionate about the work they do and the organization they do it for. Finding purpose in work is a universal desire and when team members feel their actions contribute to the shared vision, they will be more inclined to contribute to mutual goals.

Enlisting others in the pursuit of a vision starts with appealing to common ideals, often optimistic in nature. Alignment between the organization’s dream and each team member’s dream is needed and leaders need to show others how to realize their dreams. To animate the vision, leaders need to use symbolic language to create clear images of the future. Visions are really images in the mind, so clear and detailed images need to be conveyed to team members for all to be able to envision the future. For people to share a vision, they first need to clearly see it in their own eyes. Leaders practice positive communication and by looking on the bright side of situations, they keep hope alive.

To inspire a shared vision, leaders need to talk with others and discover their dreams and aspirations. They need to demonstrate how a common vision serves each team member’s best interest. A leaders messaging must be positive, vibrant, and upbeat, using metaphors, symbols, examples, and stories to create a clear vision of the future. Finally, leaders are passionate about what they believe in, and they show that passion in the words and actions.