The Vision Has to Be Reinforced
A vision cannot live only in the mind of the person who created it.
One of the lessons I've learned in business is that having a clear vision for yourself is only the beginning. If you're building with other people, they have to understand that vision too.
And communicating it once isn't enough.
Vision has to be reinforced.
As entrepreneurs, we can sometimes forget that we've been thinking about the business far longer than everyone around us. We've lived with the idea. We've wrestled with the decisions. We can see what it could become before anyone else can.
The people working with us haven't necessarily had that same journey.
That's why leadership requires repetition. You have to continue communicating where you're going, why you're going there, and how each person's role contributes to getting there.
Eventually, something important begins to happen.
The vision stops sounding like something the leader says and starts becoming something the organization understands.
I've always believed that the people around the business should be able to articulate what we're building without me standing in the room. That's when you know the vision is beginning to take root.
It doesn't mean everyone will describe it using the exact same words. It means they understand the direction well enough to make decisions that support it.
A vision that isn't reinforced can become diluted.
People begin filling in the blanks themselves. Priorities shift. Decisions become disconnected from the larger objective.
Reinforcement creates alignment.
And alignment is what allows a vision to move beyond the person who originally saw it.
If you're the only person who understands the vision, you don't have alignment yet.
Keep communicating it until the people building with you can see where you're going too.
This Perspective was adapted from ideas originally shared by Eric Heckstall in his Authority Magazine interview, “5 Things They Forgot To Mention In College.”
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