Difficult times can have a crippling effect on one’s psyche. A clearly articulated vision for future can provide people with much needed hope to be in action. In this second article in the series “Leadership in the post COVID-19 World”, we explore one of the most difficult, but most critical, tasks of a leader- creating an energizing vision.

Revisiting the change equation, we see that Vision is the second component of transformation. When the dissatisfaction (D) is strong enough, people tend to go in self preservation mode- the classic fight or flight options. If people are not able to see a new possibility for future in form of a consistent vision, fear and anxiety can propel them towards destructive actions. It is a time when leadership is most required.

The first task of the leader here is to motivate himself or herself. It can be quite challenging to be motivated when things are not going your way. One way out is to build upwards from the worst-case scenario. What if everything was lost? What if you had to start from scratch? What kind of organization would you want to build?

The trick is to start unconstrained, and then temper the vision with current constraints. If you were free to design an organization your way, what would that organization look like in future. What would it be accomplishing and what would it be known for? For example, if you are in the business of food, what would you want your future clients to say about you? “I love this outlet for the most exotic food”. Or, “I get such homely feeling”. Or maybe, “going there energizes me”. The answers could be many. Pick the ones you are most inspired by.

In my experience, people act more on emotions and beliefs. Logic is mostly used to justify what one has already decided. If you want your team to be enrolled in your vision, the vision needs to extraordinary. When people are ready to give and take lives for their religion or country, it is not because they have logically deduced it. It is because they believe that they are working towards a higher purpose. We know that the vision is working well when, people are so enrolled in the possibility, that they are willing to go the extra mile to make it a reality.

Start with a mission. This spells out the purpose of the organization. For example, Disney used to have a very simple but powerful mission statement- “Make people happy”. In another example, when I was working with a paint company, new leadership that came in gave us the mission- “Adding colors to peoples’ lives”. This was a big shift at the emotional level and was critical in preparing us to take on competition that was 4 times our size in our market. Once a mission is established, come up with a vision of what the world would look like once we start achieving our mission. This can be done by the leadership team or co-created with an influential section of the organization. Do remember, the objective is to emotionally engage people for the transformation journey.

If your transformation journey was a rocket, Vision(V) is the fuel that creates the thrust to propel the rocket. Existing crisis(D) is the launch pad, the reason to leave the ground. But people will not support it if your rocket does not have a sound navigation system. This navigation system is third component of change equation- “P”, the process to get there. For people to rally around your vision, they need to believe that it is also achievable. We discuss this in the next article.

In words of Martin Luther King Jr- “We must accept finite disappointment but not lose infinite hope”