How leaders can use vision statements to inspire others

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It's got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion.

There's nothing more demoralizing than a leader who can't clearly articulate why they are doing what they are doing.

A leader should share a dream and direction that other people want to share and follow. The leadership vision should go beyond one written organizational mission statement and vision statement.

The vision of leadership permeates the workplace and is manifested in the actions, beliefs, values, and goals of the organization's leaders. This vision attracts and affects every employee who is engaged in living this set of actions, beliefs, values, and goals. They want to share a leader’s vision.

One of the many skills and abilities that has always separated effective strategic leaders from poor strategic leaders is the ability to inspire employees to work hard to improve their organizational performance. 

Effective strategic leaders have been identified to be able of convincing employees to embrace lofty ambitions and move the organization forward. In contrast, poor strategic leaders struggle to rally their people and channel their collective energy in a positive, focused direction.

The CEO/management team who can effectively translate the high-level objectives to on-the-ground activities will have success in engaging staff! Of course, a strong element of walk-the-talk is required by management as well.

Not surprisingly, many organizations do not have formal visions. Many organizations that do have visions find that employees do not embrace and pursue the visions. Having a well-formulated vision that employees embrace can therefore give an organization an edge over its rivals.