Setting a Vision & Defining Success

Not long ago I wrote a brief post about four key actions a leader can take that build a good organizational culture, and lead to success. They were:

1. Set a vision of what is possible and define success
2. Listen to the experiences and challenges of those you are leading
3. Offer solutions and resources to address challenges they are facing
4. Express gratitude to those you are leading

In a series of posts I'm going to go a little bit deeper into each of these. Starting with #1 - Set a vision of what is possible and define success.

There are so many different ways a leader helps his teams and organization by setting a vision and defining success. In this post I've chosen to highlight three.

• A bold vision inspires action. When a leader paints a picture of what "could be" it is much easier for individuals and teams to stop hand-wringing and really spring into action! If it isn't clear what the destination is (vision), or how you know when you're there (defining success), teams will stagnate. Setting a vision provides fuel for the fire.
• A bold vision provides meaning and purpose. I once heard a story of a janitor at a hospital who reported having a deep sense of meaning and fulfillment from his work - higher even than many of the doctors or nurses. For some, at first this seemed like it might be surprising, but when asked about what his job was, it wasn't "I clean up around here." Instead, he was focused on how his efforts helped patients recover faster -- preventing infection, providing companionship while tidying the room, etc. By casting a vision connected with providing comfort to patients and helping them heal, rather than one focused on removing stains from carpets, the janitor was MUCH more deeply fulfilled. As leaders, we have the opportunity to help frame and cast a vision for what is possible and what we're trying to do. Blessing individuals with the empowerment that comes from having their activities tied to a meaningful purpose is an incredible responsibility and opportunity to uplift and inspire. This is powerful when done at the individual level (like the janitor here) but even more powerful when leaders do it for entire teams or organizations!
• Defining success increases resilience and helps us overcome challenges. When someone knows what is expected of them, they can more confidently move forward and overcome hardships; they are less likely to quit when adversity inevitably arises. As leader of Team Hydro I have helped lead over 1,000 swimmers across the San Francisco Bay from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco. In order to make it safely to shore unassisted, one must navigate a powerful current and hit a relatively narrow entrance to aquatic park through a small opening in a pier. The current is increasing in strength by the minute at this point of the swim, pushing you from your left to your right and out to sea. As a result, you must aim the left of the entrance and adjust if you're drifting too far to the right. My wife is amazing and, despite being much more a land animal than her marine mammal husband, decided to do the swim one year as a show of support for my sister, who was hospitalized at the time. I was going to help her but weather resulted in the swim being rescheduled to a time I was unavailable, and she decided to go it alone. She wound up needing to be repositioned partway through the swim because she'd been pushed too far off course. But she wanted to finish unaided, so she decided to try again. We agreed that the next time she tried, I would swim beside her to help her follow the right course and navigate the powerful currents. After about 1.5 miles of swimming we began to near the entrance of the park and much to my chagrin I realized we were coming in too far to the right and that we were on track to miss the entrance! I immediately pointed out a new course to my wife, aiming much further to the left in an attempt to correct our mistake. But I soon realized that we were getting washed further and further out to sea every second. I quickly told her we needed to make the inlet, and that it would be hard, but we had to (and could!) make it IF we swam with all our might in a direction that was almost completely perpendicular to shore until I told her to stop. I gave her a boost to get her some momentum against the current and we each swam with our heads down for what felt like a really long time. I'm happy to report that eventually we made it into the cove without needing assistance from the coast guard or other support vessels. This turned into an amazing shared experience, and we got a tremendous sense of satisfaction (and unity) from pushing through a very difficult situation together. If we hadn't clearly defined success as making into the cove without assistance, there is no way we would have had pushed through the currents and overcome that adversity together. We simply would have given-up and needed to be scooped up by a support vessal. There is no shame in that (many swimmers need that), but our vision and defined success helped us push ourselves to accomplish a difficult thing together that we wouldn't have done otherwise

Setting a vision and defining success as a team or organizational leader helps catalyze action, provides more meaning and purpose, and enhances resilience when things don't go as planned or unexpected challenges arise.

How has setting a vision and defining success helped you as a leader -- or how has a leader doing so for your team or organization been a wind at your back?