Many talk…few connect!
One of the biggest challenges for leaders is inspiring a shared vision. The key to doing this effectively depends on the leaders ability to connect with their teams and/or organization.
According to Kouzes and Posner, “ A leader cannot adopt the view that visions come from the top down. They have to start engaging others in a collective dialogue about the future, not delivering a monologue. You can’t mobilize people to willingly travel to places they don’t want to go. No matter how grand the dream of an individual visionary, if others don’t see in it the possibility of realizing their own hopes and desires, they won’t follow voluntarily or wholeheartedly. You must show others how they, too, will be served by the long term vision of the future, how their specific needs can be satisfied”.
Connecting enables the leader to find common ground, common values, and, to decipher the intersection of the leaders vision and that of the followers. Without connecting, a leader cannot know his/her people, cannot inspire a shared vision, cannot ask for commitment, cannot identify who should really be on the bus and, cannot lead effectively.