Vision is a “seeing” word or idea.  When people talk about their vision, they refer to what they see in their minds eye.  I read an author who said, “vision is a “what if” look at a preferred future”.  Well, what we see as a preferred future for our church is our vision.  Our church’s vision is:   “A fully devoted follower of Jesus, not living for their self, but daily as a missionary for God’s Kingdom”.  

I find in my own leadership that much of my frustration is a result of a lack of production of the vision.  Well, I found this article today and thought it was a good learning to share on how vision gets done.  I think you will find it enjoyable and thoughtful.  I especially liked the quote at the end so much that I wrote it on my white board in my office.  I am encouraged to always think about the next step in fulfilling our vision as a result of this article….”what’s the plan”, “yes, but how”?

Enjoy…. (you can read below or just click here)

What Kills VISION?

Posted on Sep 24, 2011

For the better part of the past 2 decades (maybe longer), the term “VISION” has been a popular buzz word in business and our churches.  It is not uncommon to pick up a book, blog, seminary outline, magazine and so on and see phrases like:

• – What is your vision?
• – Align your vision
• – Visionary Leader(ship)
• – Cast your vision
• – With out vision, people will perish
• -No vision, no leadership

I did a quick search on Amazon for “Books on Vision”…it reported almost 61,000…and I have read and learned a lot from many of these.

I then did a Google search for “Visionary Leadership”…it returned 166,000,000 results…that is right, MILLION

One last search was for “Quotes about Vision”…and it returned 260,000,000.  WOW.  Can imagine how many twitter posts I could get from all of these websites.

As we would all agree, there is absolutely no shortage of resources and opinions on vision and how important it is.  And I agree that vision is critical to not only our organizations, but in our personal lives as well.  I believe that without vision, leadership is handcuffed….and that without vision, people roam aimlessly throughout life.

So what “kills” vision?  What impedes vision?  What derails it?

The answer is actually very simple – THE LACK OF EXECUTION, ACTION AND IMPLEMENTATION

During my search of “vision” on the internet, I found a great quote that drives this home:

“Vision animates, inspires, transforms purpose into action.” – Warren Bennis

Have you ever been in a high level brainstorming session when the “vision” is so thick you could cut it with a knife?   The emotions are running high.. the excitement is palpable…questions like “Can you imagine if…” are being thrown around…the whiteboard is covered with 10 different colors and there are Post-it Notes spewed all over the walls.  You know what I am talking about….you have been there.

Vision is cast. Vision is set.  The Vision has been communicated. The troops are rallied.

So…what happened? Why did our vision not become reality?  Why do we have unfulfilled expectations? We could sit and develop a list of the “reasons” why (like money, time, etc), but the short answer is that the vision was not implemented.

According to Dictionary.com, the definition of “implement” as a verb is:

• 1. to fulfill; perform; carry out:
• 2. to put into effect according to or by means of a definite plan or procedure.

So…when a Vision fails, it boils down to the required actions were not completed.  The action items were not fulfilled.  There was not a plan to follow.  People did not take responsibility.  There was not a system or procedures to follow to accomplish the tasks.

For those of you who know me well, you know I love to brainstorm and have vision casting meetings.  I thrive on asking “What Box” and not just trying to think outside someone else’s box.  But…I am also an anal retentive, process drive fool.  I am always trying to put means/methods/structure around the vision and the goals because I have been privy to far too many great visions that never went anywhere.  They did not take flight and soar due to a lack of vision or a lack of excitement…but rather of a lack of implementation.

My point?

Vision casting and vision thinking is great…we need as much of it as we can muster.  But…if the vision is to become reality, you must have a plan to implement it.  “Vision” is the feel good part…”Implementation” is the Git ‘R Done part.

Both are necessary.

“Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.” – Japanese Proverb

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