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Cultivating Your Vision with a Team

by | Mar 9, 2024 | Leadership | 0 comments

A man point to a diagram of a modern jet plane whilst a woman holds a prototype that is not similar

Cultivating Your Vision is Hard!

​Cultivating your vision with a team can be one of the most challenging aspects of leadership. Every leader, no matter how senior they are or how many people they lead, must be able to effectively communicate and cultivate their vision. This can be one of the key areas where leaders struggle to relinquish ownership, control, and hands-on delivery. You are a leader because you have honed your skills and know how to deliver, but now you are asking others to do this on your behalf:

  • How do you gauge if your vision has been understood
  • How do you incorporate your team’s vision and ideas to create a shared vision – assuming you want to
  • How do you know the output will align with your vision
  • How, and how frequently do you gain updates
  • How do you react if the output is misaligned with your vision

Leadership Personas

Over a couple of decades I’ve seen firsthand some of the struggles with leaders trying to relinquish ownership and control. I liken these struggles to four different patters or personas:

The Driver

The driver – they never let go.

They are at the centre of the team, making the decisions, telling people what to do, taking control of some or even all aspects of the output. They literally drive their vision through to completion. Whilst the leader gets the output they desire, there is no room for growth or personal development in the team. Team members become disillusioned and leave. The organisation fails to scale.

A manic looking man driving a car, that represents a leader driving their vision in a team

The Meddler

The meddler – they “help out” when they get time.

In their heart, the meddler is trying to do a good thing. They are mostly leaving the output to the team but lend a hand when they have some free time. They are trying to remove some of the burden from the team whilst keeping an eye on how their vision is progressing. Whilst the meddler is likely to have the skills to deliver, they are in and out of the delivery. They lag behind the team and lose the context. They run out of time and leave things half finished. The team start to resent them as they are continually reworking their impromptu contributions.

A picture of a woman that is racing against the clock to complete some work, represernting a leader that is meddling with a team's output

The Deserter

The deserter – they vanish after communicating their vision.

The deserter leaves everything to their team, and is seldom around to provide support or guidance. They often don’t care if the output aligns with their vision as they have drawn a line under their responsibilities and already moved on. Whilst the team members are thrown in at the deep end and either sink or swim, they are left to develop their own skills and deal with the consequences if the output isn’t what is required. This can be a challenging and disheartening environment.

A man walking away into the distance, waving goodbye, representing a leader deserting their team

The Fixer

The fixer – they rework the output when it is done.

This is the worst persona I’ve seen, it is passive-aggressive and creates tremendous resentment within that team. The fixer is seldom happy with the output, even if it matches the vision they originally communicated. Unless they have created the output they will never be happy with it. Naturally team members don’t put up with this behaviour for long.

A woman is smirking whilst she chnages her team's output, representing the fixer leadership style

Develop Your Leadership Skills

Like most aspects of leadership, communicating your vision is a skill. Providing feedback is a skill. Gaining updates on progress is a skill. Skills can be learnt and developed. The key thing is to understand where you are on your leadership journey and devise a plan to develop your skills. Once you are able to effectively communicate your vision, establish an open and informal mechanism for regular updates, and support your team in achieving the desired output, it can be a truly liberating experience. It can also be a great way to foster deep relationships with your team and help them to develop their skills and progress their careers.

Coaching is a great way to develop your leaderships skills. With coaching you can explore your current leadership approaches, begin to understand how these may be perceived by your team, and explore alternatives and options, all in a safe space. Coaching is also a great way to enhance your personal leadership skills. Leading through coaching encourages your team members to think for, and believe in themselves, and empowers them to resolve their own challenges.

If you would like to find out more, just drop me a message.

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