Making Vision Reality

Every leader knows the importance of vision to an organization. With out it the endeavor will flounder and its people will be passionless and ineffective, resulting in mediocrity at best and out right failure at worst.

Unfortunately there is often a disconnect between the vision statement that an organization "adopts" and the practical day-to-day activities of its people. The vision itself can be good and right and even well stated, yet struggle to penetrate the organizational culture and therefore influence how the organization functions.

This morning I was inspired on that subject by an excerpt from Dr. John Maxwell's book "The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork" that was cited in my devotional email from Equip. In this short writing Dr. Maxwell starts down a path that leads to operationalizing vision within any organization.

"Arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them-the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses." Joshua 1:2-3

People need to be shown the team's vision clearly, creatively, and continually. Whenever I endeavor to cast vision with the members of my team, I use the following checklist. I try to make sure that every vision message possesses the following:

• Clarity: brings understanding to the vision (answers what the people must know and what you want them to do) 

• Connectedness: brings the past, present, and future together 

• Purpose: bring direction to the vision 

• Goals: bring targets to the vision 

• Honesty: brings integrity to the vision and credibility to the vision-caster 

• Stories: bring relationships to the vision 

• Challenge: brings stretching to the vision 

• Passion: brings fuel to the vision 

• Modeling: brings accountability to the vision 

• Strategy: brings process to the vision

Excerpt from The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork

For vision to be realized it has to make its way into an organization's culture and continually inspire its people. For that to happen the vision needs to show up everywhere. From stories to strategies, actions to emails, in conversations and presentations -- when most everything a leader says and does connects back to the vision that dream can begin to take hold. Otherwise the vision statement might look good on the letterhead but that's about all it can do.

Submit to God-Given Authority

This excerpt from The Maxwell Leadership Bible caught my attention this morning. It's one of those teachings that's sometimes hard and sometimes easy - depending on whose authority we're under. Yet there's no exception or caveat provided.

"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves."  Romans 13:1-2

"Paul gets practical in how to apply our beliefs to our lives by challenging us to submit to God-given authorities. For children, this means parents; for adults, this means leaders in government, the workplace, and the church."

"Why should we submit? Is it because these leaders are the smartest, most reliable individuals on earth? No. God simply provides us with an authority test. Before we will ever become leaders of integrity, we must learn to follow other leaders, regardless of differences. In fact, the acid test of character comes when we disagree with legitimate authorities. When we refuse to demand our own way and instead submit to others, our hearts are right. This is when God can trust us to lead others."

Of course the trick is in balancing honor and submission with advocacy when we disagree with an authority over us. Is there room for conscientious objection and even defiance? What about on moral or Bibical grounds? Perhaps - but it's dangerous territory to be sure. As Maxwell points out - the larger work is the development of our own character. So there is a clear burden we bear here. While we defend values and advocate for principles and conventions we believe in, we must also maintain appropriate honor, respect and submission to those in charge. Even if while doing so we are praying for the completion of their tenure. 

Team Building & Cardinals Baseball

Well it's happened again. The Saint Louis Cardinals have won another NL pennant - their 19th overall and 4th in the last 10 years. They are in the post-season this year for the 10th time in the last 14 years. How do they do it? In an era of free-agency, salary caps and the resulting high mobility of players, how do they continue to put together winning teams year after year?

As I was thinking about that I remembered a discussion at work a couple weeks ago. Our Operations Team was talking about hiring practices and building teams. The question then was very similar - how do we continue building a winning team in all of the various departments throughout our organization? In that conversation we identified 5 C words to pay attention to when choosing people. Now that I think about it, those 5 C's of Team Building can be seen in most any organization, business, or church that is successful over a long period of time -- just like the Cardinals.

1. Character - In the long run it doesn't matter how much a person knows or how good they are at their job. If they don't  live with honesty and integrity, if they're not dependable, if you can't trust what they say and do, if they continually put their own interests ahead of the team's or organization's, if they're not ethical in their dealings, both on and off the job, they will eventually cause more pain than profit. More often than not teams that consistently "win" are made up of men and women of high character and a strong moral core.

2. Chemistry - How many times have we seen very talented teams fall apart at the end of a season, only to learn later of the chaos and discord in the locker room. Every coach knows that good team chemistry is critical to long term success. When team members like and respect each other, trust each other and have shared values and organizational goals, they tend to support each other's efforts. That collaboration produces a synergy that multiplies the team's effectiveness and overall performance. Conversely, as my grandpa used to say, "one bad apple can spoil the whole barrel." Bad chemistry is toxic to a team.

3. Competence - Winning teams have talent. Even the greatest coach in the world can't win without players that can play.  Average skills will usually produce average results. Highly competent and highly skilled team members can not only perform at a high level themselves, but their work often raises the performance of others as well.

4.  Calling - In vocational ministry a divine calling is a given. Men and women hear the whisper of God in their heart and that calling fuels their efforts. But a calling, or a passion, or an intrinsic desire to go to work can make a big difference to every person in every job. Whether it's because they like the product, support the mission, believe God has called them to the work, or just enjoy the task or the challenge or the people or the culture, when a person likes their job they are simply more effective at it.

5.  Capacity - One of the keys to the Cardinals success this season has been the development of their "home grown" talent. Over half of their World Series roster came up through their minor league system. When assessing talent, a couple great questions to consider are:  "How good could this person be in a few years?" and "How much can I grow them?" Finding raw or baseline talent that is both teachable and full of potential can provide a winning edge to any team or organization.

Go Birds!