Vision is vital as leader Published July 24, 2009 By Fire Chief Mark Farias 30th Civil Engineer Squadron VANDENEBRG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The domain of leaders is the future. Leaders take us to a place we've never been before, even though there are no freeways to the future, no paved highways to the unknown. Leaders are possibility thinkers, not probability thinkers. All new ventures begin with possibility thinking, not probability thinking. Every organization, every social movement, begins with a vision. This vision is the force that invents the future. The future doesn't just happen; it is created. We may follow in the wake of those who have gone before, but what we do and where we go is ultimately up to us. Leaders inspire a shared vision in our organizations. They gaze across the horizon and see what could be, not just what is. They guide their people on pioneering journeys and create something no one else has created before. They live their lives backward in a way, because they see a picture of what tomorrow will be before they've taken the first step of today. Almost everyone has a vision, but it's not always a shared vision. A great vision must inspire; it must be a meaningful picture of the future that can be fully articulated and shared by all members of the team. So enrich your language with stories, with metaphors, analogies and examples. Remember that symbols, not acronyms, capture the imagination. The eagle is a symbol of strength, the olive branch a symbol of peace, the lion a symbol of courage, and the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of freedom and opportunity. Human memory is stored in images and sensory impressions, not numbers. So what does this mean to leaders? Leaders must understand the power of language. We use words to create images. It means that, to envision the future, we must be able to draw upon the process of creating images. When we invent the future, we need to get a mental picture of what things will be like long before we begin the journey. Leadership is a dialogue, not a monologue! Everyone needs to be able to have a part in the vision. It provides the direction by which your people will achieve a purpose or result. To enlist people in a vision, leaders must know their people and speak their language. Leaders have to invite their people to stand next to them so that they can see this vision for themselves. They have to taste it, smell it and feel it. Then we have to move forward from vision to action. Looking up at a mountaintop is vision; climbing it is action. What connects vision and achievement is a bridge called teamwork. All decisions must be made in light of the vision. You can't say you're going to empower people and then require ten signatures to get office supplies. Your people need to be allowed to be responsive to the vision and its values, not the bureaucracy. Find out which people in your organization have the vision written on their hearts and have a feel for when decisions, policies, and procedures are causing the vision to get off track. These people can help you make the course corrections you need to help stabilize the vision and keep it in place. You, the leader, must live the vision and communicate it in everything you do. The more you live the vision, the clearer it will become. You need to live the vision day in, day out, embodying it and empowering every person to execute that vision in everything he or she does, anchoring it in realities, so that it becomes a template for decision making. Actions do speak louder than words! People commit to causes, not plans. People want meaning and purpose in their work. The leader's job is to create that meaning. Show them their part in it and its effect on them. The most important role of vision in organizational life is to give focus to human passion and energy.