Vision
A vision is a thing inside the leaders that gives them a mental picture of their organizations’ future and guides them toward achieving the set goals and objectives. The trait theory of leadership suggests that effective leaders possess some specific characteristics, which support their capability to mobilize the followers toward a shared vision. According to one of the interviewees, an effective leader is the one who develop processes, which engage the workers in realizing the strategic vision. Ideally, a vision is imperative for organizational effectiveness. The responses from the leaders we interviewed attested that lack of a shared vision between the leaders and followers is also one of the contemporary leadership challenges.
We discovered that a vision shows the leaders where their organizations are headed and helps them prepare for the future. We also found out that vision provides the leaders with the focus they require to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives. Communication plays an indispensable role in the achievement of the vision. In fact, one of the interviewees maintained that the employees cannot understand the vision without clear communication. What is more, it became clear to us that a vision motivates and inspires the leaders to continue leading efficiently in spite of the obstacles. In essence, a visionary leader communicates his/her vision clearly and passionately and, as a result, motivates the followers to act with purpose and passion.
According to the interviewees, motivation and inspiration of the followers play an imperative role in the achievement of the strategic vision. The path-goal theory suggests that the effective leaders motivate their subordinates through their clear vision. However, some of the present-day leaders lack a distinctive, clear, and precise view of the future of their organizations. In other words, these leaders fail to align their organizations around a practicable and clear vision. In fact, the lack of a clear vision in the contemporary organizations imply that the leaders do not motivate and inspire the employees as is expected of them.
The lack of a shared vision in some of the contemporary organizations lead to their failure to identify their sources of competitive advantage, which generate community benefit as well as assessable profit. The other problem that emanate from lack of a shared vision in these organizations is poor performance. In essence, we found out that the leaders who lack vision fail to inspire the employees and, thus, their organizations fail to perform as expected. Consequently, the leaders ought to encourage individual vision in their organizations as well as blend intrinsic and extrinsic visions to succeed in resolving these problems. They need to possess some important skills such as excellent communication, honesty, high integrity, and open-mindedness. They also need to engage their subordinates by involving them in the process of decision-making.
