When Visions Collide

Every leader knows how important a vision is to leading an organization. The vision you cast is the pathway to success.

Creating your vision is easy if you’re the only person on your team. Or your team is still small.

two bulls locking horns

Photo by Uriel Soberanes

Grow your team? Then creating a vision everyone can get onboard with becomes harder. It may even seem impossible.

This is when visions collide.

What Is A Vision?

A vision isn’t something spiritual or woo-wooey. A vision is a clear picture in your mind of what you want your business or organization to look like in the future.

Your vision may be:

We are a company that values employees while bringing the best to our customers. We provide the best cellular service in the industry and our customers rate us with a 99.9% satisfcation rate.

This vision is powerful. You can see what the organization wants to do. This organization wants to create an environment where employees feel valued, customers get a great product, and customers are happy.

Looking at this vision, you can begin to work on a pathway to obtaining this vision.

When Visions Collide

The more you grow your organization, the more team members you will have. This can create an issue with the vision of the organization.

People have come and gone. People who weren’t there when the vision was originally crafted are now a part of the organization. And everyone has a different idea of where the organization needs to go, especially since the founder has left.

This is when visions collide.

New people come in. Old people begin to speak up. The organization looks different.

But what can be done when visions collide?

A leader needs to step up. A leader needs to be the one who helps combine or create a new vision.

When visions collide, leaders must:

Squelch dissent: Competing and colliding visions create dissent in an organization. Bob may be upset because he feels the vision goes against what his department needs. Mary feels the vision is unfair to a certain demographic.

Ughh… Why can’t this just end?

Well, that’s what you’re there for. You are there to help squelch dissent in your team. You can do this by helping those in your organization realize the purpose of the vision. The vision isn’t there to hinder anyone. The vision is there to help your team know the end goal, the prize.

Show them how the vision actually aligns with what they’re doing. Help them to see the vision frees them to do more of what only they and their department can do.

Reaffirm the vision: You may feel the need to slink back when your vision collides with another vision. You cannot do this.

Rather than slink back, choose to stand tall and reaffirm the vision. The vision of your organization is there for a reason. The vision is the guiding light. Don’t like the light go out.

Reassess the vision: If there’s been a lot of change in the organization, it may be time to reassess the vision of your organization. Organizations change. They shift directions. They also drift…

If things have changed drastically, it may be time to reassess the vision of your organization. Look at the visions other team members are presenting.

How do these visions align with the current direction of the organization? What can you assimilate from these new visions? Is it time to restate the vision?

You never know what you need to do with your vision until you assess all of the options. Sometimes you will stand firm with the current vision. Other times you will realize the vision no longer fits the organization.

Be willing to be firm. Be willing to be flexible. More than anything, be willing to do what is right.

Question: What do you do when visions collide in your organization? How are you handling these conflicts? Share your insights in the comments below.

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