The Anatomy of Vision

How leaders turn imagination into impact

By Chris Sonksen

Leader’s vision is the product of imagination.

As of this writing, I have three grandchildren: two girls and a newborn boy. The girls are five and two years old, and I don’t have to prod them to let their imaginations soar. One day in the middle of playing with them in their make-believe world, I wondered, When will this stop? When will their imaginations fade?

Unless they numb their souls with repetitive, meaningless input, their imaginations will never atrophy. Dr. Angela Nyhout conducted research on adolescents, young adults and older adults and discovered that our imaginations “continue to grow and change, even throughout adulthood . . . We just need the freedom of the right environment and opportunity to explore the limits of our imagination.”¹

Nyhout’s research indicated that this was particularly true for those over 60. Did you catch that? If you’re younger than 60, your most imaginative days are ahead of you! If my grandchildren remain in stimulating environments, their minds will increase their creativity into old age. And so will yours.

This means you’re never too old for a fresh vision to capture your heart and energize you to do great things. As I’ve seen my own visions develop and become realities, and as I’ve coached countless leaders over the years, I’ve noticed “the anatomy of a vision.”

BIRTH

Leaders in all kinds of organizations respond to needs. Every great company, every influential church and every effective nonprofit was founded and developed by a leader who saw a genuine need and found ways to meet it.

When Tony Dungy was picked to be the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1996, some may have considered it a sentence instead of an honor. The team hadn’t had a winning season in 17 years, but in only his second season, the team finally had a winning record. In Tampa, and later with the Indianapolis Colts, Dungy instilled his vision throughout the organization: “Whatever it takes. No excuses, no explanations. Do what we do.”

The birth of a vision may begin with recognizing a need, but without any idea of how to meet it. Gradually, possibilities take shape, dreams coalesce and conversations affirm the leader’s passion to do something to meet the need. Virtually everything we have, from cameras on our phones to air travel to ice cream, is a visionary’s response to a need. It doesn’t always have to be totally unique. It can be a better, faster or more efficient way to meet the need. If the vision doesn’t solve a genuine problem, investors, customers and people of all stripes simply won’t be interested.

If you’re a leader, you have a dream. I can’t tell you how often people have told me, “Someday, I’d like to do this or that.” They speak wistfully, as if they assume it can never happen . . . but it can! (Or at least a variation of it.) Some of them have a boatload of confidence, but many have become discouraged and lost their passion like sand falling in an hourglass. Your self-perception determines the size of your vision.

DISCOVERY

The vision begins to take shape. Discovery has two phases: getting feedback from one or two people and then inviting experts to the Vision Table to refine the vision and create the strategy.

After this conversation (often more than one), the leader may sense a red light and bag the concept, or a yellow light and do more research before continuing . . . or not. A green light doesn’t mean all the questions have been answered, but reason and momentum seem to be moving forward.

If the leader feels there’s a green light, he or she moves to the second phase of discovery: identifying a few experts to invite to the Form Table. There, nothing is out of bounds. They discuss:

Is the concept feasible?

What’s a workable strategy?

How much will it cost?

Should we put our resources into something else right now?

What’s the timing?

What will have to be put on hold?

Do we have the right people to pull it off?

Do I need to buy (that is, hire) an expert?

Do I need to rent (enlist part-time) anyone?

What will the leader and the organization have to sacrifice?

What are the risks?

What are the potential payoffs?

If it doesn’t cost anything, it’s almost certainly not worth anything.

For years, leaders asked me for advice about their organizations. It took a long time for me to realize I may have some insights and experiences that could help a lot of executives and pastors, so I began to consider becoming a leadership coach.

Since I had no experience in this line of work, I called some friends who had established coaching practices years before, and I asked every question I could think of. Fairly quickly, the idea morphed into a strategy, and I offered my services. I didn’t know how it would work out, but it has been one of the most fulfilling parts of my life. It began with a few meetings with trusted advisers.

A leader may come out of these meetings full of enthusiasm and energy, but the opposite may happen: the death of the dream. It can be devastating, like the death of someone you love. But the death of a dream often comes before a resurrection: the dream takes a different shape and is reborn. Previous misguided assumptions are jettisoned, the leader has more wisdom this time, and a new process of discovery begins.

Netflix began by delivering movies on DVD. When streaming became possible, they had to reinvent themselves or die. Glitch was a game that could morph into almost any form users wanted, but it was too strange, and it was on a respirator when its creators completely changed the company to Slack, an immensely popular site for workplace collaboration.

If your dream is dying a slow, agonizing death, it may be time to euthanize it and move on to something that has more promise. If it died in a sudden crash (such as when nobody thinks it’ll work and you can’t find anyone to join you), take some time to consider other ways to meet the need.

STRATEGY

Strategy is crafted by the people who sit at the Form Table, and it’s then handed off to the Function Table. As detailed as possible, they:

Define the SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound),

Write a plan with tasks, timelines and reporting responsibilities,

Allocate resources,

Identify potential roadblocks and detours and

Create a tracking system to be sure progress is being made.

My father spent most of his life in the construction business. He could build anything. When I was ten, some friends and I wanted to build a fort out of scrap plywood. The sheets had been cut in many different ways, but we just started nailing sheets to boards. That afternoon, Dad came home from work and saw our masterpiece. It was a mess. The sides didn’t fit, the corners didn’t match and the roof was falling off. He smiled and told me, “Son, it’s really hard to build something when you don’t have a plan.” That’s true for forts, and it’s true for every leader with a vision to make a difference.

I’ve known leaders with fabulous dreams, but they became enamored with the dream and failed to create a strategic plan. The people who sit at the Function Table own the strategy and the plan. It’s up to them to manage every aspect of the project, keep it on track and make necessary adjustments. Each person sitting at this table has specific responsibilities, including coordinating well with others at the table.

Some of us are wired to be planners. We love details, and we’re skilled at keeping complex projects on track. But many leaders have a different set of gifts. They’re big thinkers who can see into the future, but they can’t organize well enough to get out of a wet paper bag. If you combine vision and detail management, you’re a rare breed. If you’re a visionary who’s deficient in (or just bored by) the intricacies of planning, find someone who can pick up the slack. There’s no such thing as a successful strategy without a carefully constructed plan.

ASSIGNMENTS

The supreme management question is: Who will do what by when? At this point, the vision is clear, and the strategy has been hammered out on the anvil of penetrating questions and dialogue of those sitting at the Function Table. These people have their assignments, and they recruit (or have already assigned) people to carry out their responsibilities.

As I’ve mentioned, some of the people on the staff team will probably be at this table, but it may also include IT experts, contractors, architects, product creators and anyone else who will play a key role (temporarily or permanently) in bringing the vision to completion.

It’s not enough to have warm bodies, and having “nice people” won’t do. You need people with the skill, experience, dedication, and tenacity to get their jobs done, and done in a way that builds the team.

Some people are all about titles. They jockey for position, perhaps for several reasons. Some want the extra pay and perks, others crave the prestige, and still others long for more power. Far too often, this kind of ambition has a harmful effect.

Unhealthy competition limits potential, but collaboration accelerates success.

EXECUTION

Assignments have been made. Plans have been shared and clarified. Deadlines are in place. Lines of authority and reporting are clear. Now, each person executes their part of the plan. Leaders need to continually inject vision into the system because, as I’ve often said, “Vision leaks.” Enthusiasm and passion can decline for many different reasons:

Tasks are harder than they seemed.

People have added these new responsibilities to an already packed schedule.

Miscommunication (or no communication) leads to distrust.

One or more people are in the wrong seats on the bus.

A leader at the Implementation Table micromanages people, and they feel used instead of empowered.

Progress isn’t monitored or celebrated.

The process is taking too long, and people are exhausted.

The regular injection of vision is essential. People don’t operate on autopilot. They’re emotional, they get tired, they can be grumpy and they lose steam if they don’t maintain a vision of how the project will make a difference. A study reported in Harvard Business Review shows that “61 percent of staff at strong-execution companies believe field and line employees are given the information necessary to understand the bottom-line impact of their work and decisions. In weak-execution organizations, just 28 percent believe this to be true.”²

Stephen Covey taught, “Begin with the end in mind.” This study tells us that we need to keep the end in mind throughout the project’s lifespan.

COURSE CORRECTION

If I’m staying at a hotel and decide to have dinner at a restaurant across the street, I don’t need to do a lot of course correcting when I walk there—unless someone almost hits me as I cross the street. Simple tasks are fairly straightforward, but complex ones require constant observation and a deft hand on the tiller to account for the winds and waves of change.

People who don’t expect the need to make adjustments in major projects will be shaken and may lose faith in the leader. Mid-course corrections are completely normal and expected. They might be necessary because of someone’s blunder, but quite often, difficulties come from unexpected sources.

When a pilot files a flight plan, the course is carefully plotted, but planes never follow the course precisely. Winds, temperature changes and variations in barometric pressure push the plane up, down and side to side. If the plane gets off course even one degree at the beginning, it may miss the destination by many miles, but the autopilot doesn’t let that happen.

With exquisite sensitivity, the device makes thousands of minute corrections throughout the flight to keep the plane as close as possible to the intended route. In the same way, a leader’s vision says, “Here’s the destination, and here’s the flight plan,” but the people at the Function Table serve as autopilots to make as many corrections as necessary—in the budget, timing, assignments, etc.—until the project is complete.

LAUNCH AND CELEBRATE

The launch of a new product or service, or the first day in a new building, is a day to celebrate! Sometimes, though, the last weeks and months have been so grueling that people are exhausted. They don’t want to celebrate; they just want a vacation!

Depending on the project, some elements may be launched before others. For instance, if you’re working on a three-part curriculum for leadership development, the basic course may be released before the intermediate and advanced courses are completed. In this case, celebrate three times!

Planning to celebrate the launch is just as important as planning any other part of the project. Yes, people are tired. Go out of your way to care for them, listen to them and help them in any way you can. Yes, there’s a flurry of busyness. Be an example of slowing down, breathing and being thankful that the project has come so far.

People will remember how the project ended. Did unresolved conflict poison the atmosphere? Were people jealous that someone else got more appreciation? When things went wrong at the last minute (and they will), was there finger-pointing, or was it handled with diplomacy and kindness?

Show appreciation to the people who sat at the Form Table for months, or even years, before. Those sitting at the Function Table have shouldered the responsibility of bringing the project from strategy to completion. Those you rented will no longer be part of your staff team, those you hired will find a new role, and those who were already on your team will go back to what they were doing before . . . or maybe be promoted to a new position. Everyone contributes to the success. It’s often the small things few people see that result in the big wins everyone wants.

Plan the launch. Plan the celebration. Show appreciation to every person who contributed, no matter how much or how little. People will remember.

KEEP PUSHING

Leaders at every table need to be stubborn with the vision but flexible with the plan. The plan is negotiable, but the vision isn’t for sale. If you want to get to the hardware store but Main Street is closed, you can find many other routes to get there. The destination hasn’t changed, but the route has to.

Even if your vision is rock-solid and crystal-clear, you’ll encounter roadblocks. Some people you count on will back off, some resources will take a long time to materialize and you have to make some significant changes along the way, but you keep pushing—learning and growing—until the vision becomes a reality.

A perfectly smooth path doesn’t exist. You need to know that, and every person involved needs to know it too. Soldiers don’t follow discouraged generals, but they’ll follow courageous ones to the end of the earth. In the course of a long implementation process, you’ll be discouraged (and maybe angry) from time to time. Don’t let your painful emotions bleed into your leadership. Find someone to talk to, find a solution to the immediate problem and keep casting vision for your team.

In my master’s program in leadership, a psychologist told me, “The way you keep people energized is by keeping their eyes on the benefits—to them, to the team, to customers and to everyone else affected by the progress. When they lose sight of the benefits, they get discouraged, and they find fault with each other. They need to hear you say—often—that the benefits will outweigh all the work. This principle is true for the leader of a $50 billion company who wants it to grow . . . or someone who wants to stop smoking. A clear picture of the payoff makes all the difference.”

Keep your eye on the prize. Keep their eyes on the prize.

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CHRIS SONKSEN is the founder of ChurchBOOM, an organization committed to coaching pastors and propelling churches and leaders to reach their potential. ChurchBOOM launched an initiative called Church Rescue which provides coaching, resources and emergency funding to churches that are struggling and possibly facing closing their doors. Chris is known for his dynamic speaking and ability to inspire audiences. He is married to his wife, Laura, and has two adult children and two granddaughters. His new book is Making Vision Happen: Bridging the Gap Between What You See and What You Achieve, from which this article is adapted.