The difference between effective and mediocre leaders is their ability to keep the vision at the front and centre of their mind, maintaining focus on the goals ahead, whilst motivating and inspiring the team to achieve their full potential.

Whilst establishing and communicating the vision are two key elements of the process, it’s easy for people to complete these steps and then become complacent, with the vision slowly becoming less clear over the coming weeks and months before fading away entirely.

To make the vision a reality, it must become your obsession. You must think about it by day and dream about it at night, developing and detailing the journey, so you can successfully navigate the path ahead and support your colleagues along the way.

You must understand and internalise the vision of the company, to the point where you can describe it down to the very last detail. Remember, the more vivid the vision becomes, the easier it is to designate resources appropriately and steer the ship in the right direction.

Solving the puzzle

In our previous blog, we talked about how important it was for the entire team to feel emotionally invested in the vision, understanding the importance of their individual efforts to achieving group success. However, if the vision isn’t crystal clear in your mind’s eye, it certainly won’t be for your team, which can be confusing for those trying to understand their role in the process.

Think of your colleagues as individual pieces of the puzzle. The completed puzzle will be your vision, but without constantly visualising what it looks like, it can be near impossible to make the pieces fit together correctly, a lot like trying to complete a 500-piece puzzle without looking at the picture on the box.

Therefore, you must spend enough time thinking about your vision, so that any potential challenges and obstacles are accounted for, providing you with the understanding and knowledge needed to designate resources appropriately and make the right decisions at the right times.

Like anything, if you spend enough time considering your vision and thinking about what it looks like, then it’ll naturally become your default thought, sitting firmly in your subconscious so that any business decisions and developments are made with the end goal at the front and centre of your mind.

Broader possibilities

Whilst focussing on your vision will bring clarity to the decision-making process, it also allows you to see more and consider the wider possibilities that present themselves along the way. By now, I’m sure most of you have experienced deviating from an original plan, but that doesn’t always mean it’s a bad thing.

In some cases, it may make perfect sense to deviate from the original plan, either because the intended route is more difficult than expected or the new path promises to take you to your destination faster. Either way, crystalising your vision and taking the time to understand it will open your eyes to the wider possibilities.

Ultimately, the process of constantly thinking about your vision boils down to practice and preparation like an athlete getting into the zone before starting a race. Minimising distractions and visualising success will keep you on track and help you think clearly about what needs to be done.

If you’re going to successfully deliver lasting change for your organisation and take your business to where it needs to be, then you must develop a healthy obsession for your vision, making it your number one priority amongst daily work.