17
Inspire a shared vision AAMSE Leadership Academy January 21, 2016
Inspire a shared vision AAMSE Leadership Academy
January 21, 2016
Driving in the fog
Measures of credibility
• Characteristics people look for and admire in a leader: • Honesty, trustworthiness • Competency, expertise • Inspirational, dynamic • Forward-thinking
The equation
• Forward-thinking + inspiring: inspiring a shared vision • Envision the future by imagining exciting and ennobling
possibilities • Enlist others in a common vision by appealing to shared
aspirations
• This practice is the one that differentiates leaders from other credible people
• For most people, it’s the toughest practice to master
Why is this so hard?
• Open your workbooks to page 72
• Transfer your “self” and “average observer” scores from your LPI report to the boxes on page 72 (1 min.)
• At your table, appoint a note-taker then brainstorm reasons why this practice might be the toughest (5 min.)
• Round-robin report-out (7 min.)
What is “vision?”
• It isn’t a goal • Goals are about the short-term; vision is about the long-term • Goals are the milestones; vision is your ultimate destination • Goals are targets; visions are aspirations
• It isn’t a mission • Etymology: mission=to send, vision=to see • Vision is the dream, mission is about the actions you carry-
out to achieve the dream
What is a “vision?”
• A vision is an ideal and unique image of the future for the common good
• Five key words • Ideal: conforming to a standard of perfection, excellence • Unique: the only one of its kind; remarkable, extraordinary • Image: a reproduction or picture • Future: existing or occurring at a later time • Common good: shared destiny, collective desire
I have a dream . . .
• Who: Martin Luther King, Jr.
• What: 17-minute speech delivered to 250,000 participants in the “March on Washington”
• Where: Washington, D.C.
• When: August 28, 1963
• Why: urge passage of civil rights legislation
I have a dream . . .
• Turn to page 75 in your workbooks
• Take notes during speech
• Pay attention to: • Delivery and language • Themes, especially the vision building blocks (ideal, unique,
image, common good) • Sharing the vision
Essential elements of a vision
• Ideal: hopes, aspirations, possibilities
• Unique: extraordinary, different, special
• Image: word pictures, analogies, stories, symbols
• Future-oriented: projection, yet-to-be-realized
• Common good: shared destiny, collective desire, “we”
To create a memorable vision
• Use common language
• Make it personal
• Connect with yesterday
• Acknowledge today’s reality
• Light the way forward
