Leadership and vision
Introduction
Porridge – ‘Prisoner and Escort’
Sentenced to imprisonment, Fletcher is being escorted to Slade prison when prison van breaks down in middle of moors. Taking shelter in a deserted cottage, in the middle of the night, whilst guard is asleep, Fletcher manages to break out of the cottage and makes a bid for freedom over the moors. Running all night, as dawn breaks he stumbles upon a remote house and breaks in, only to find he is back exactly where he had started from several hours previously. With no idea of where he was and no map to navigate by Fletcher has gone round in a huge circle, expended enormous energy and has exhausted himself whilst making absolutely no progress and achieving nothing.
A bit like our experience of life sometimes! Lots of effort but little progress because actually we have no real idea of where we should be heading. Totally exhausting and dispiriting.
Bad enough when we are only taking responsibility for our own life. But if we are leaders and charged with responsibility for leading others, then to forge ahead without any real vision for where we are going is disastrous.
Or perhaps we do have a clear sense of where we should be going and of where we want to lead others. But other people never seem to ‘get’ what we find so exciting and stimulating. What’s more, many in our church now seem to be suspicious of the exciting new ideas I keep putting before them and increasingly closed to hearing or acting on the creative thoughts I keep having and sharing with them. So most of my ideas come to nothing and I end up more and more frustrated and dispirited.
In this seminar I want to explore the key place of vision in leadership and look at how we might lead with vision by effectively receiving, communicating, enacting and maintaining vision.
The vital importance of vision
“Without a vision the people perish” Proverbs 29:18
The former senior leader of Gallup UK, Jill Garrett, in a seminar for CE’s once pointed out that successful leaders ask themselves questions that unsuccessful ones do not. One of these was ‘What does the future look like’. Vision is essentially the ability to see and understand the future which God has for us and to communicate it effectively to others.
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Vision is a picture of the future that produces passion Bill Hybels |
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‘Visions are like lenses. They focus unrefracted rays of light. They enable everyone concerned with an enterprise to see more clearly what is ahead of them.’ Kouzes & Posner – The Leadership Challenge |
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In one sense, vision is seeing beyond the limited horizons of life as we and others are living it.
Vision is all about seeing things from God’s perspective. We need to see and understand:
Who God is and what he is about
Who we are in Christ
What God is calling us to do
What is the next piece in the jigsaw and where it may be found
Possessing compelling answers to these questions makes all the difference between effectiveness and failure in Christian living and ministry. Most of those who fall by the wayside in the Christian race do so because they have lost any sense of vision and future direction. Conversely, the way to reinvigorate a struggling life or church or ministry is to invest it with fresh vision. Without direction and vision people don’t do anything, don’t go anywhere and don’t achieve anything.
Hebrews 12:2 cf. Mark 8:32
Jesus’ vision of God’s future enables him to see the cross in an entirely different light from Peter.
The Key Contributions and Functions of Vision:
Gives direction
Vision acts as a compass by which we navigate our way forward.
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Vision is seeing tomorrow so powerfully that it shapes today Walter Wright |
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Provides Focus & Protects us from distraction
It shapes the way we organise our life together around a mission and helps us keep the main thing the main thing.
Draws People in & increases ownership
Vision acts as a magnet. When vision is cast and owned by people the church and its mission becomes ‘our church’ rather than ‘his/their church.
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People need to know the main thing. What are we basically about as a church or as a group or ministry? When we have vision energy is increased and people are moved into action. Vision puts the match to the fuel that most people carry around in their hearts and yearn to have ignited. We leaders must keep striking that match by painting compelling Kingdom pictures. The Leadership gift is the only gift that provides this energising spark for the church. Bill Hybels |
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Fosters unity
People are prepared to overlook difference of opinion over detail for sake of bigger picture.Creates structure for change
That is, vision gives a reason for and acts as an incentive for change to take place but also provides security in the midst of that change as it sets clear and defined parameters within which change can unfold. E.g. Transition to Cell Structure; Mission vision.Provides purpose
Vision gives people a sense of their own place in God’s unfolding purposes in history. Vision invests dynamism in the way in which we perceive ourselves and our specific responsibilities.
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Vision is a powerful sense of what needs to be done and the initiative to take hold of it and work towards its completion. George Verwer |
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Generates resources, personal and financial.
Vision and the leader
If vision is vital for effectiveness the role of the leader in establishing vision is paramount.
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Articulating the Vision may be the single most important responsibility that a leader has. Walter Wright – Relational Leadership |
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People do not follow a dream in itself or not for long anyway. They follow a leader who enfleshes that dream. Vision, in the beginning, may make a leader; but for that vision to grow and demand a following, the leader must take responsibility for it. Vision is contagious and leads to others beginning to stand alongside the leader in the task. On the other hand, without vision, energy dissipates, achievement dips and people are nowhere to be seen.
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Vision. It’s the most potent weapon in a leader’s arsenal. It’s the weapon that unleashes the power of the church. Bill Hybels |
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I believe that creating a vision is the most important function of leadership. A good vision establishes a beacon of light that both the leader and the followers can latch onto and use to guide them from the day to day minutiae that can potentially sidetrack even the most pure of heart. A vision is simply a picture of an ideal state of what the leader wants his or her organisation to be sometime in the future. Matthew Richter |
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Leadership without vision and direction is simply meandering and not leadership at all. True leaders have a clear sense of where they are going and of the importance of taking others along with them. This picture of a preferred future is essential.
Great Biblical leaders had a clear sense of vision which energised and motivated them:
Moses and Promised Land
Jesus and joy set before him
Paul (Acts 20)
All effective leaders possess two things: They know where they are going and they are able to persuade others to follow.
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Leadership requires a vision of a place that is better than where we are, along with an ability to communicate that vision clearly so that people want to embrace it. Stan Slap Cf Nehemiah 2:17-20 |
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Vision should be a clearly communicable picture of the future, steeped in value, and philosophy, as well as structure. Stan Slap |
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Visionary leaders will not get bogged down with the minutiae of process. Process is vitally important if vision is going to be worked out, but too much attention to detail will derail vision before it gets started.
Receiving vision
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‘A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees further than others see, and who sees before others do.’ Leroy Eims (Be the Leader you were meant to be) |
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Vision is usually personal, coming to one person who shares it with others.
Vision is clear and is realistic.
Sometimes vision comes directly from God whilst at other times it is mediated through other leaders. Vision always comes to those who are open and prepared to see things
Habbakuk 2:1-4
Key elements in receiving vision include:
Giving time to God. Moses’ vision of God’s people inhabiting a land with God began as an idea which God put in his mind (Exodus 3:7ff).
Key question may well be ‘What am I not going to do in order to make time to hear from God.’ Often it is chronic busyness which keeps us from receiving vision in the first place. Cf Mark 1:35-39 ; importance of stepping back.
Meditating on Scripture
Reimagining yourself and your church within the unfolding story of God and of his people. Cf Jesus the servant of the Lord. E.g. Deuteronomy 2004
At its most basic level, vision is simply articulating the Kingdom imperative in a compelling way for the people whom you lead. God has given us the basic vision. We are not to change or modify it but to express it afresh in ways which can be owned by our people.
Analysing your past experiences
Reading the signs of the times
Visiting other places, hearing other stories
Talk to others: Visions are seldom original
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The leader may be the one who chose the image from those available at the moment, articulated it, gave it form and legitimacy and focuses attention on it, but the leader was rarely the one who conceived of it in the first place. Bennis & Nanus (Leaders) |
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Sharing with other leaders. Ways in which vision is honed, refined etc Recognising ways in which others will respond to and receive vision e.g. difference between people-focussed person and process-focussed person.
Providing opportunities for other visionary people to express that which God has been sharing with them. Place of Vision days; write a letter to a former colleague 5 years on telling him what has happened since he left.
Scenario building, going through the various possible options, strategies for working this out.
Leaders can never take people further than they have travelled themselves.
Sharing Vision
For example, of Jesus. Luke 4,5 – sets before disciples a vision of what they can become and of the Kingdom he is bringing in.
Embody Vision
Preparation - Share it one on one; drop ideas into peoples minds and hearts so that they begin to get excited and to excite others too.
For example, second service 1998 New Wine. Sought out other champions from both ends of spectrum.
Then talked it out with PCC
Declaration - Go public with it. By this time it wasn’t a huge shock.
Chief purpose of this phase is to get people to appreciate issues and to grasp implications for themselves.
Vision Sundays
Be careful when you time your vision casting opportunities; i.e. not school holidays, when people are tired etc. Do it at a time when people have energy and opportunity to explore things further.
When leaders articulate a vision they declare new possibilities.
Leaders recognise that it is their job to speak in a way that allows people to engage with the future they are describing. To engage people, leaders must take into account the assumptions that people hold about what is possible.
We don’t all see the same things despite being in the same place at the same time.
Effective leaders ask three questions about people:
What do others see?
Why do they see it that way?
How can I change their perceptions?
Leaders who are concerned with activating people’s energy and engagement will be mindful not to force their vision on people. Instead they will engage people in dialogue, putting forward their own view of what is possible. Questionnaire; not open-ended but steering.
Maxwell uses the image of painting a picture for people. This will include:
Horizon – allow them to see the heights of their possibilities
Sun – Leaders are dealers in hope
Mountains – challenges lead to drive to succeed
Path – a way through the terrain which lies ahead
Yourself – never paint the vision without placing yourself in the picture.
In order to communicate vision, let people see your heart before they see your hope. People don’t care how much you see until they see how much you care. Cultivate trust and then begin to paint a picture for others.
The things they love – put what is important to the people within the frame of the vision and you will have transferred the vision to the people. For example Mark Melluish and pews
People receive communication in different ways. Much merit in written communication – people can reflect at leisure.
Verbal communication.
Entering into dialogue; giving opportunity for people to express own views and fears and reservations as well as their enthusiasms. E.g. worship questionnaire; Cell Any Questions session. Important for people to feel that they have been heard.
After you buy a car, you promptly see that make of car everywhere. That’s because we find what we are looking for. The leader helps people develop this sensitivity and an eye for knowing what to look for. If the picture is painted clearly and shown continually, soon others will begin to see how it fits into everything they do. They will have a vision mind-set.
Persuasion – Give people confidence to own vision and to go for it
This is aided by promoting a sense of commitment/belonging to the church
Promote a sense of excitement about the task in hand
Promote confidence in your own leadership; this leads to commitment to vision
The Vision Process: identifying the engine drivers. Place of devolved leadership; vision cascade.
Vision leaks and needs to be continually reinforced.
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Vision creates faith and inspires hope. Vision provides the energy for every effort, the power that will penetrate the problems and the will that overcomes the obstacles. Vision is usually accompanied by a profound dissatisfaction with the way things are and a compelling perception of the way things could be. Vision starts with frustration over what is and develops with determination to press towards what could be. Vision originates with the indignation of hindsight, the illumination of insight and the imagination of foresight. David Pytches – Leadership for New Life |
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Exercise Find a quiet place for a few minutes and mull over the following questions:
Now get into groups of three or four to share what God has been showing you and to pray for one another. |
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Ten types of people who hinder a vision:
Limited leaders Those who lack vision or the ability to pass it on successfully
Concrete thinkers Those limited by their own horizons. GB Shaw – ‘Some people see things as they are an say ‘Why?’. I dream of things that never were and say ‘Why not?’’
Dogmatic talkers Those who claim to know everything, but actually probably know nothing!
Continual losers Consumed with fear from past failures and fear risk of themselves or anyone else pursuing a vision .
Satisfied sitters Those who strive for comfort, predictability and security above all else.
Tradition lovers We’ve always done it this way!
Census takers Those who never feel comfortable stepping out of a crowd and who will only embrace the vision when the majority does.
Note that true leaders will always be in the minority because they are always thinking ahead of the present majority.
Problem perceivers Those who see a problem in every solution. JH Newman – nothing would get done at all if a man waited until he could do something so well that no one could find fault with it.
Self-seekers Those who live for themselves
Failure forecasters Those who send a note of pessimism everywhere, whose outlook is always gloomy. Nothing in their life seems to expand or grow. Chinese Proverb: ‘Man who says it cannot be done should not interrupt man who is doing it.’
