CRM - Empowering Leaders

Vision: A Compelling Reason 

People need to know there is something worthwhile at stake and that their effort is directly connected to it. Every organization, business, or enterprise of any sort is actually populated by people who volunteer. Even where there is a paycheck involved, employees volunteer themselves to the challenges of the task at hand every day.

But as people get involved in the demands of their responsibilities, they lose sight of the reason behind what they are doing. It is nothing devious, it is just
human nature. Vision has a half-life of seven days. That is to say, no matter how clear and strong the vision for what we are doing is today, seven days from now it will only be half as clear and half as strong. Seven days later, another half life has expired. Within 28 days, whatever you started with will be down to a meager 6.5% of its original strength.

No one is out there looking for a way to fill their time. People want a cause that is worthy of sacrifice. They want to give themselves to something that will change the world in some small way. And when they take on responsibility, those in leadership must help them continue to connect the dots, showing them that what they do is directly related to the capacity of the entire organization to change the world.

Without a compelling reason:

• People are left to work out of duty or obligation alone. And working solely out of duty is the pathway to burnout.
  
• People compete for resources based on personality or positional power rather than vision and strategy.
  
• Turf wars become the name of the day.
  
• Pettiness reigns because it is the clear indicator of a lack of compelling vision--one that deserves personal sacrifice.