5 WAYS TO EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATE YOUR VISION: TURBOCHARGE THE EXECUTION GAME OF YOUR TEAM.

John Maxwell once said,

“One is too small a number to achieve greatness”.?

This is true for every leader on a mission to turbocharge the execution of their goals and vision.? As a Leader or Visionary, a huge part of your productivity equation is made up of a formidable team of people who understand your vision, have bought into it, and are ready to run with it. You’re only as strong as your team. This is why it is incredibly important to communicate your vision to your team and paint a clear picture of the individual roles of each team member.

A great challenge a lot of leaders face is having to deal with a team that does not seem to have the same drive, passion, and urgency they have for their vision. They have communicated the vision but it rubs off as beautifully crafted words that have no driving force to propel their team to effective execution. This presents the irony of a leader’s drive for their vision and the lack of motivation of their team.?

Now, what exactly is the reason for this challenge?

A 2013 Hay Group Global Leadership survey of over 3,000 leaders found that 57% of employees believe their leaders are ineffective communicators. Only 36% felt their leaders communicated the company's vision and strategy. This lack of clarity can lead to disengagement, unmotivation, and decreased productivity.

This suggests that no matter how brilliant a vision is if it is not effectively communicated, it will significantly impede the productivity of your team.?

These are 5 ways to effectively communicate your vision to your team and eliminate the bottlenecks in the successful execution and implementation of your vision or idea.

1. Communicate the Vision Ad nauseam

Effectively communicating your vision is key to securing the buy-in and commitment of your team. A lot of leaders often under-communicate their vision. One time is not enough to drive the message of your vision to your team. Repetition and reinforcement are powerful techniques you must employ to keep your team persuaded about your vision. Utilize regular stand-up meetings and team retreats to reinforce the drive for the vision.

2. Adapt your Vision to the roles of your Team Members.

It is not enough to communicate the vision. You must take it a step further by clarifying the role of each member as it relates to the vision. Teams with high levels of role clarity tend to achieve better performance outcomes. You need to ensure that everyone understands how their work contributes to the larger picture.

3. Equip your Team Leads to be Vision Ambassadors

Your team leads do not only supervise the work of your team members, they set the pace for how well your team members understand the vision and behave daily. Your team leads will most likely have more interface with your team members than you do. This means they are in the best position to keep the vision top of mind for your team. They can help members of your team across different units;?

• Unify their efforts towards the overall goal.?
• Understand how every project culminates in the achievement of the big vision

When you have team leads who are driven with the vision keeping your team in sync with the vision, you will turbocharge the execution game of your team.

4. Leverage Vicarious Reinforcement

Vicarious reinforcement is a theory propounded by Canadian-American Psychologist, Albert Bandura. It states that observing others being rewarded for specific behaviors can increase the likelihood of adopting those behaviors oneself. When team members whose efforts and behavior demonstrate a strong alignment with the vision are publicly recognized and rewarded, it sends a message to other team members that similar efforts and results will be acknowledged and appreciated, motivating them to strive for similar outcomes. Beyond this, you paint a vivid and practical example of what working in sync with the vision looks like to the rest of the team. Spotlight team members whose efforts show a commitment, drive, and passion for the vision and watch others follow the same path.

5. Align Team Behaviour to the Vision

Every leader must have the ability to broach difficult conversations with their team. Communicating the vision to your team is a progressive initiative and you want to immediately highlight behavior and practices that do not facilitate the actualization of the goals and vision of your team. If left unchecked, complacency or inaccurate assumptions can spread like wildfire through your team. In addition to knowing what is expected for peak performance, your team also needs to know what is not acceptable.?

Which of these 5 ways will you be implementing?