There is very little I’ve experienced in the business world that is more frustrating than working with a visionary leader who inspires me completely and yet can’t execute. At the same time, I’ve discovered during the course of my career it’s rare to find a truly visionary leader who excels at both. When you find this magical combination you find extraordinary companies like Apple and Virgin.
Having read Les McKeown’s The Synergist, where he takes a very detailed look at the four main roles on any organizational team (visionary, operator, processor and synergist), it’s easy to see why a visionary might struggle with execution, especially if they don’t have a balance of these roles on their teams.
But even visionaries who have highly balanced, talented, and complementary teams may fail to execute their vision for the following reasons:
1. Not enough funding
Especially during start-up mode I’ve watched visionaries fall short because there is not enough funding to support the execution of key strategies needed to get off the ground successfully. Planning for this stage is critical.
2. Misaligned strategy
As I wrote about in, “How to Screw Your Business in One Easy Step,” strategies must be aligned with the vision in order to prevent the business from heading off-track. Visionaries who do not understand this may find themselves seemingly moving in circles, and teams experience the frustration of a lot of activity with no results to show for it.
3. Lack of Confidence
Most of us probably think of visionaries like Steve Jobs and Richard Branson who are highly confident in their vision and them self. Yet I worked with one who could not trust herself to follow her vision. She sought the opinion of so many people over the course of a few years in regard to whether and how she should pursue her vision, and changed her strategies so often based on this divergent advice, that she eventually ran out of resources and commitment.
4. Lack of Empowerment
Some visionaries don’t have the ability or inclination to execute their visions, and yet won’t empower others from their team to go make things happen. Instead, they cling to control, especially when the company or initiative is “their baby.” When a visionary does not have the skill set to execute, they need to fully empower their team to do so.
5. Teams hiding the truth
I worked with one CEO whose business heads were not honest with him about how bad their respective business situations were (backorders, recalls) until it was too late. The Board had no choice but to let him go. He was a beloved leader and his team didn’t want to disappoint him, but in the end they hurt him and the company. The organization learned a great deal from that experience.
My advice to visionary leaders is:
- Make sure you hire a team that complements you, balances you, and makes up for your areas of weakness
- Create relationships with individuals based on the essential need for openness and trust
- Accept that to bring your vision to life you need to empower others to do their jobs, and provide the resources needed for them to do their jobs well
- Make sure you’re planning up front for the full cost of executing the vision
- Know your vision. Remember, you should be able to see, smell, taste and feel what the world will look like when you bring your vision to life.
Believe in your vision wholeheartedly…no one else can do this for you!
What’s your advice to visionary leaders who struggle with execution? Join me and my Leadership Chat Co-Host Steve Woodruff tomorrow evening, March 20th, as we explore this topic in our weekly, global leadership conversation! As always, there will be plenty of Tuscan food and wine and great conversation. Please join us at 8:00 pm Eastern Time on Twitter!
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