Introduction to communicating vision
Communicating vision to team members is the beginning of implementing or achieving vision of an organization. A vision can be achieved only when it is properly communicated to all levels of employees.
If an organization is having a good vision but not able to properly communicate it to all levels then it only remains as words in its business plan or in book or even in leader’s mind. Communicating vision makes words into action.
The critical task of leadership is to communicate the vision clearly and repeatedly. James O’ Toole, author of Leadership from A to Z, describes this communication as follows:
“The task of leadership is to communicate clearly and repeatedly the organization’s vision… all with the intent of helping every person involved understand what work needs to be does and why, and what part the individual plays in the overall effort.”
Vision Statement and Communicating Vision
Effective communication of a vision is possible if a vision is clear, well-defined and written in well articulated words. A well written vision is easy to communicate than a vision which is not able to understand from its written words. A vision must be written in such a way that it attracts similar minded people to the organization.
Thus writing a vision in good sentences is important in the case of communication and implementation of the vision. A vision statement must be an artistic way of describing where an organization is going.
Methods of Communicating Vision
1. Training and development programs
Imparting vision to all in the group or organization through training and development programs is one of the methods of communicating vision. This is effective in telling people what organization is going to do in future and what it will not do. It also helps people in understanding their role in achieving organization’s vision.
2. Link daily work and activity with vision
Another effective method in communicating vision is to link the daily work and activity of the organization with its vision. Every activity in an organization should connect to the vision. Leaders should reinstate everyone to the vision through internal memos, presentation, posters, emails etc. These mediums can be used as an effective way of communicating the vision to all employees in the organization.
All the actions and strategic decisions a manager or a leader took must have a link to the vision of the company. This will help better communication of the vision to the employees and all in the organization.
A better communication is possible only if the leader or management understand the vision clearly. The actions and activities planned by the management should always communicate the vision. If leader himself is not able to understand the vision clearly, he/she cannot transfer or properly communicate it to the team. This will lead to a problem in communicating the vision.
3. Link staff appraisals with vision
If performance review, objective and target setting, inter departmental communications, standard of staff evaluation and appraisal are linked to the vision then automatically vision will communicated to all the staff and it can also be successfully implemented.
That is vision should impart to a person at the time of hiring itself. His/her compensation, rewards, performance evaluation etc. must be link to the vision. The HR function of an organization has an important role in communicating the vision to its employees.
Conclusion
A better communicated vision will help to bind all people of an organization together to work for a common goal. It also gives much help to the managers in managing the employees as well to perform a successful business.
There are barriers for effective communication which can also become a barrier here. Thus for an effective communication of vision, it is also important to overcome the barriers of communication.
A business becomes successful with a team of employees who very well understand the vision of the organization. If an organization fails in building such a team of employees, it will fail in its business or operation. So communicating vision is important and determines the success of the organization.