3 tips for filling a vacuum with a positive vision
Great leaders believe it is important to: “Set the agenda, otherwise other people will fill the vacuum with their agenda.” This is one reason why governments run out of steam. They lose energy, forget their idealism or are taken over by outside influences. Harold McMillan, the former Prime Minister, said the greatest challenge to a politician who wanted to become a statesman was: “Events, my dear boy, events.” The same rule applies in other areas of life.
Pioneers often fill a vacuum with a positive vision. How can you take this step in your own way? One approach is to set the agenda – for your life, a meeting, a task, a project, an organisation or whatever. When other people are involved, it is vital to make sure that – as far as possible – the vision is based on creating a ‘win-win’. People are then more likely to work together to achieve ongoing success. Here are three steps for making this happen.
Pioneers often fill a vacuum with a positive vision. How can you take this step in your own way? One approach is to set the agenda – for your life, a meeting, a task, a project, an organisation or whatever. When other people are involved, it is vital to make sure that – as far as possible – the vision is based on creating a ‘win-win’. People are then more likely to work together to achieve ongoing success. Here are three steps for making this happen.
* You can fill the vacuum with a positive vision.
You will already have taken this step many times in your life – such as when shaping your career, recovering from a disappointment or taking charge of your health. Progressing in your career, you will find increasing opportunities to shape the agenda. (That is if you choose to work for a ‘committed’ company, rather than a ‘committee’ company. The former gets on with the job, the latter just talks about the job.) Let’s explore one scenario.
Imagine that you are leading a business that is heading for turbulent times. Everybody in the building is discussing the potential difficulties in the market. During such times, some leadership teams go into a ‘bunker’ for months. That leaves people without direction – and the vacuum is filled by negativity. You can act swiftly, meet with your leadership team and agree on the strategy. Then communicate this to the whole company. People are intelligent, so it is vital to explain the route ahead. Your role is to set the future agenda by being as honest as possible. You may say something like:
“Everybody in the business knows that we face certain challenges. At this point, our options are to do nothing; to play the blame game; or to do everything we can to deliver success. We have obviously chosen the latter route. Looking at that road, the possible ways forward we have are: a) To __________ b) To __________ c) To __________ Each option has both pluses and minuses – there are no ‘minus-free’ options. We have decided to take route (a). Other people may have chosen another option, but this is the route we have chosen. Here are the specific things we are going to do to give ourselves the greatest chance of success:
1) To __________________________________________________
2) To __________________________________________________
3) To __________________________________________________
“This is what we see as each person’s role in implementing the strategy. The leadership team’s role is: To _______ The managers’ role is: To ________ The colleagues’ role is: To _______ Everybody in the business knows the challenges ahead. Providing we follow this strategy and work hard, however, we believe that we stand a great chance of success. I am now happy to answer any questions.”
This sounds a risky strategy, but it is even riskier to do nothing. It is vital to set the agenda, rather than leave it to others – or events – to do so. Great leaders are decisive: they do not let things drift.
Looking at your own life, can you think of a situation where you want to fill a vacuum with a positive vision? It can be in your personal life – such as taking charge of your time, improving a relationship or whatever. It can be in your professional life – such as returning to doing work you love, making clear contracts with your boss, giving tough messages to a poor performer or whatever. Try completing the following sentences.
The specific situation where I want to
fill a vacuum with a positive vision is:
*
The specific things I can do to set the positive vision are:
*
*
*
* You can get support for the positive vision.
The question is: How much support do you need? Let’s imagine you want to achieve a positive vision in your personal life. You may then simply need: a) to commit yourself to achieving the goal; b) to encourage yourself and get the backing of your loved ones; c) to get the right infrastructure in place for doing the grunt work, whilst releasing yourself to do the great work. Let’s imagine you want to achieve a vision in your professional life. You may then need: a) to get support from your sponsors – your bosses; b) to get support from other stakeholders; c) to get support from others who want to fulfil the vision. Many people have vested interests in retaining the status quo, however, which is why pioneers often choose to build ‘prototypes’. They focus on the positive people who want to make something happen, rather than waste time trying to convince a whole system. Believing that ‘success provides it own arguments’, they find allies, do great work and publicise the success stories. Let’s look at one person who took this route.
Alec Dickson, one of my mentors, gave birth to two organisations Voluntary Service Overseas and Community Service Volunteers. His view was:
“We have many thousands of young people who have energy and idealism: we also have many unmet needs in our societies. Let’s marry the two together. We can give young people the opportunity to serve others. They can care for disabled children, build adventure playgrounds, act as auxiliary nurses, teach others to read and do many other tasks to improve society. In the process of giving, the giver often learns as much as the receiver. So we can enhance the spirit in our society by giving young people the chance to serve.”
Alec began by developing prototypes – finding children’s homes, hospitals and detention centres whose leaders were prepared to give youth its chance. Cataloguing the achievements, he recruited more establishments and volunteers. Eventually he began approaching government bodies. They resisted at first but, after a few years, adopted the approach. The vast majority of ‘projects’ proved successful though, of course, there were occasional problems. Alec helped to craft a ‘win-win’ agenda for both young people and societies.
Let’s return to the situation where you want to pursue a positive vision. How can you get the support you need? How can you show the benefits to potential sponsors? If other stakeholders are involved, how can you try to – as far as possible – create a ‘win-win’? If things get difficult, how can you focus on a specific niche and ‘build a prototype’? How can you make clear working contracts with the key people? How can you give support to colleagues and other stakeholders? Bearing in mind the situation you have chosen to focus on, try completing the following sentence.
The specific things I can do to find the
support I need for the positive vision are:
*
*
*
* You can do superb work and fulfil the positive vision.
Pioneers often translate their vision into reality. Bob Geldof delivered Live Aid; Dame Cicely Saunders founded the modern hospice movement; Tim Smit gave birth to The Eden Project. Let’s return to your ‘project’. Get some early wins to build confidence and maintain energy. Build on what works and spread the success stories. Sometimes you will encounter setbacks. You can then use the ‘5C’ model. Clarify the challenges, choices, consequences, creative solutions and conclusions. Looking at the challenge, clarify the ‘real results’ you want to achieve. Explore the choices and consequences - the respective pluses and minuses – and find creative solutions. Settle on your conclusions and make clear contracts about the way forward. Do superb work and deliver concrete results. Try completing the following sentence.
The specific things I can do to do superb
work and fulfil the positive vision are:
*
*
*
“Without vision, the soul perishes,” we are told. Pioneers continue to be proactive rather than paralysed. They fill the vacuum by providing a positive vision.
You will already have taken this step many times in your life – such as when shaping your career, recovering from a disappointment or taking charge of your health. Progressing in your career, you will find increasing opportunities to shape the agenda. (That is if you choose to work for a ‘committed’ company, rather than a ‘committee’ company. The former gets on with the job, the latter just talks about the job.) Let’s explore one scenario.
Imagine that you are leading a business that is heading for turbulent times. Everybody in the building is discussing the potential difficulties in the market. During such times, some leadership teams go into a ‘bunker’ for months. That leaves people without direction – and the vacuum is filled by negativity. You can act swiftly, meet with your leadership team and agree on the strategy. Then communicate this to the whole company. People are intelligent, so it is vital to explain the route ahead. Your role is to set the future agenda by being as honest as possible. You may say something like:
“Everybody in the business knows that we face certain challenges. At this point, our options are to do nothing; to play the blame game; or to do everything we can to deliver success. We have obviously chosen the latter route. Looking at that road, the possible ways forward we have are: a) To __________ b) To __________ c) To __________ Each option has both pluses and minuses – there are no ‘minus-free’ options. We have decided to take route (a). Other people may have chosen another option, but this is the route we have chosen. Here are the specific things we are going to do to give ourselves the greatest chance of success:
1) To __________________________________________________
2) To __________________________________________________
3) To __________________________________________________
“This is what we see as each person’s role in implementing the strategy. The leadership team’s role is: To _______ The managers’ role is: To ________ The colleagues’ role is: To _______ Everybody in the business knows the challenges ahead. Providing we follow this strategy and work hard, however, we believe that we stand a great chance of success. I am now happy to answer any questions.”
This sounds a risky strategy, but it is even riskier to do nothing. It is vital to set the agenda, rather than leave it to others – or events – to do so. Great leaders are decisive: they do not let things drift.
Looking at your own life, can you think of a situation where you want to fill a vacuum with a positive vision? It can be in your personal life – such as taking charge of your time, improving a relationship or whatever. It can be in your professional life – such as returning to doing work you love, making clear contracts with your boss, giving tough messages to a poor performer or whatever. Try completing the following sentences.
The specific situation where I want to
fill a vacuum with a positive vision is:
*
The specific things I can do to set the positive vision are:
*
*
*
* You can get support for the positive vision.
The question is: How much support do you need? Let’s imagine you want to achieve a positive vision in your personal life. You may then simply need: a) to commit yourself to achieving the goal; b) to encourage yourself and get the backing of your loved ones; c) to get the right infrastructure in place for doing the grunt work, whilst releasing yourself to do the great work. Let’s imagine you want to achieve a vision in your professional life. You may then need: a) to get support from your sponsors – your bosses; b) to get support from other stakeholders; c) to get support from others who want to fulfil the vision. Many people have vested interests in retaining the status quo, however, which is why pioneers often choose to build ‘prototypes’. They focus on the positive people who want to make something happen, rather than waste time trying to convince a whole system. Believing that ‘success provides it own arguments’, they find allies, do great work and publicise the success stories. Let’s look at one person who took this route.
Alec Dickson, one of my mentors, gave birth to two organisations Voluntary Service Overseas and Community Service Volunteers. His view was:
“We have many thousands of young people who have energy and idealism: we also have many unmet needs in our societies. Let’s marry the two together. We can give young people the opportunity to serve others. They can care for disabled children, build adventure playgrounds, act as auxiliary nurses, teach others to read and do many other tasks to improve society. In the process of giving, the giver often learns as much as the receiver. So we can enhance the spirit in our society by giving young people the chance to serve.”
Alec began by developing prototypes – finding children’s homes, hospitals and detention centres whose leaders were prepared to give youth its chance. Cataloguing the achievements, he recruited more establishments and volunteers. Eventually he began approaching government bodies. They resisted at first but, after a few years, adopted the approach. The vast majority of ‘projects’ proved successful though, of course, there were occasional problems. Alec helped to craft a ‘win-win’ agenda for both young people and societies.
Let’s return to the situation where you want to pursue a positive vision. How can you get the support you need? How can you show the benefits to potential sponsors? If other stakeholders are involved, how can you try to – as far as possible – create a ‘win-win’? If things get difficult, how can you focus on a specific niche and ‘build a prototype’? How can you make clear working contracts with the key people? How can you give support to colleagues and other stakeholders? Bearing in mind the situation you have chosen to focus on, try completing the following sentence.
The specific things I can do to find the
support I need for the positive vision are:
*
*
*
* You can do superb work and fulfil the positive vision.
Pioneers often translate their vision into reality. Bob Geldof delivered Live Aid; Dame Cicely Saunders founded the modern hospice movement; Tim Smit gave birth to The Eden Project. Let’s return to your ‘project’. Get some early wins to build confidence and maintain energy. Build on what works and spread the success stories. Sometimes you will encounter setbacks. You can then use the ‘5C’ model. Clarify the challenges, choices, consequences, creative solutions and conclusions. Looking at the challenge, clarify the ‘real results’ you want to achieve. Explore the choices and consequences - the respective pluses and minuses – and find creative solutions. Settle on your conclusions and make clear contracts about the way forward. Do superb work and deliver concrete results. Try completing the following sentence.
The specific things I can do to do superb
work and fulfil the positive vision are:
*
*
*
“Without vision, the soul perishes,” we are told. Pioneers continue to be proactive rather than paralysed. They fill the vacuum by providing a positive vision.
You can read about many people who have taken these steps in The Strengths Way, which can be found here:
posted by Mike Pegg at
14:42
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