Shared Vision SV Senge Chapter 11 THE FIFTH

Shared Vision (SV) Senge: Chapter 11 THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE

Introduction • SV is the answer to the question “What do we want to create? ” • SV creates commitment, connectedness to those who hold it • Provides the focus and energy for learning • SV is subscribed to because it reflects the holder’s personal vision

Why Shared Visions Matter • Visionaries like Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, Theodore Vail, Kennedy were able to articulate their visions in ways that galvanized people to join with them • SV uplifts people’s aspirations – Making the motorcar affordable by everyone – Accelerating learning through use of PC’s – Bringing the world into communication through telecommunication – Leaving footsteps on the Moon – Making the world accessible through travel

Why else do Shared Visions Matter • SVs are exhilarating, exciting, galvanizing • Allows people who mistrusted each other to work together • High-performing teams have a strong sense of shared vision and purpose according to Abraham Maslov • SVs compel courage--doing whatever is needed in pursuit of the vision • Learning organizations do not exist without SV

Learning Organizations and SV • Vision establishes the overarching goal • SV compels new ways of thinking and acting • SV provides a rudder for keeping the learning process on course

SV fosters risk-taking and experimentation • “You know what needs to be done, but you don’t know how to do it” • You are willing to experiment

SV fosters a long-term view • Japanese believe building a great organization is like growing a tree – It takes 25 to 50 years • Parents of young children try to lay a foundation of values and attitude that will serve an adult 20 years hence • Strategic planning tends to reflect more of the “short-term” than “long-term” – Corporate leaders are more immersed in the problems of today than the opportunities of tomorrow

The Discipline of Building SV • SV emerges from personal visions • People with a strong sense of personal direction can join together to create a powerful synergy toward what I/we truly want • PM is the bedrock for developing shared visions

Building Shared Visions, Continued • We can’t force people to develop personal visions • We can create a climate that encourages personal vision Prepared by James R. Burns

We have to believe • We can create a differentiated B-school and one that is highly respected • We can lead with the best ideas, the best curriculum, the best faculty, etc. . • We have to articulate our vision for being the best--what else is there? • Vision does not have to derive from the highest levels of the organization

What about top-down vision • doesn’t need to be communicated in a dictatorial hierarchical • Top management goes off to write its vision statement with the help of consultants • What comes back is disappointing, often a one-shot vision • Management assumes they have now discharged their visionary duties

Writing vision statements • Rarely makes a vision “come alive” within an organization • Does not build on people’s personal visions • The new official vision fails to foster energy and commitment or passion • Even among the top-management team who created it • Vision is not a solution to a problem

The Annual Planning Ritual • Creative strategies seldom emerge • Fail to nurture genuine vision • Sometimes shared visions just bubble up from nowhere

For leaders to build shared visions…. • Must be willing to continually articulate their personal visions • Must be willing to ask “Will you follow me? ”

DEC’s vision to become electronically integrated • networks would tie together all of the functions (areas) • The process of building shared vision is not always glamorous • A visionary leader is not one who gives inspiring speeches • He is one who uses is vision to make decisions every day

Shared visions emerge. . . • as a result of the interactions of individual visions • individuals feel free to express their dreams • individuals will listen to the dreams of other team members • Multiple visions must be allowed to coexist • Diversity of ideas is welcomed

Spreading Visions: Enrollment, Commitment and Compliance • Commitment is close to the heart of contemporary managers • 90% of the time what passes for commitment is compliance • talk of getting subordinates to “buy into” the vision

Attitudes toward a vision • • Commitment Enrollment Genuine compliance Formal compliance Grudging compliance Non-compliance Apathy

Guidelines for Enrollment and Commitment • Be enrolled yourself • Be on the level • Describe the vision as simply and honestly as you can • Let the other person choose • Your efforts to convince the other person will be seen as manipulative • Ultimately, there is nothing you can do to get another person to enroll or commit

Anchoring Vision in a Set of Governing Ideas • The vision must be consistent with the governing ideas • Governing ideas, answer the critical questions” “What? ” “Why? ” “How? ” • Vision is the “What? ”--the picture of the future we seek to create • Purpose or mission is the “Why? ”--the organization’s answer to the question “Why do we exist? ”

Anchoring Vision, Cont’d • Core values answer the question “How do we want to act, consistent with our mission, along the path toward achieving our vision? ” • An org’s values might include integrity, openness, honesty, freedom, equal opportunity, leanness, merit or loyalty • ALL THREE GOVERNING IDEAS ANSWER THE QUESTION “What do we believe in? ”

Relationships between Purpose, Vision, and Values • Visions make the purpose (mission) more concrete and tangible • Core values are necessary to help people with day-to-day decision making • Purpose is abstract, vision is long term • But core values must be translatable into concrete behaviors

Positive Vs. Negative Vision • “What do we want” is different from “What do we want to avoid? ” • Negative visions are limiting because – negative energy is less motivating – carry a subtle message of powerlessness – they are inevitably short term • Org’s can be motivated by fear or by aspiration

Creative Tension and Commitment to the Truth • The most effective people are those who can hold their vision while remaining committed to seeing current reality clearly (the truth)

Shared Vision and the Fifth Discipline

The Missing Synergy: Shared Vision and Systems Thinking

Copyright C 2000 by James R. Burns • All rights reserved world-wide. CLEAR Project Steering Committee members have a right to use these slides in their presentations. However, they do not have the right to remove this copyright or to remove the “prepared by…. ” footnote that appears at the bottom of each slide. Prepared by James R. Burns