Leadership Vision

Last week, I spent 3 days at one of the training rooms inside the Supreme Court, working with a team involved in the legal industry on a leadership module about change management. Participants included the Chief Executive, Directors and Senior Managers.

On the second morning, as I waited patiently for security to check my credentials and clear my vehicle for entry and parking, I noticed a small visual display just above the card access slot, it displayed upcoming events of the week at Supreme Court like overseas visitors etc.

The other screen shot, perhaps reflective of the current state at the Singapore judiciary with a new Chief Justice just coming onboard on Nov6,  was a very poignant reminder to me about the role of leadership in managing and leading change. The message read as follows:

“ Vision without Action is a Dream …
                                           Action without Vision is a Nightmare.”

The power of visioning by leadership cannot be underestimated, especially in this age of employee engagement and with the different generations and needs at work, in particular the Gen Y.

The leading authorities on leadership are single-minded about this value.

In his seminal work on change management, John P Kotter shared his “8-step Change Model”  in his 2006 book Leading Change with one step being “creating a vision for change”.

Management guru Ken Blanchad also expounds on the topic of leading through change, shared about the need for leaders to provide an inspiring vision by “envisioning the future”.

Leaders must have clarity of purpose and be clear about how to go about achieving, in addition to providing guidance about the way it should be done. So ensuring clarity of vision, mission and values is NOT an out-dated notion, but a management imperative for continued organizational success.

I am currently consulting with the Managing Director (MD) and senior leadership team of a very successful  beauty and food & beverage group here in Singapore. The MD was recently named Tourism Entrepreneur of the Year 2012.

After more than a decade of tremendous growth and expansion, this life-style group finds value in re-visiting their vision, mission and core values to ensure better alignment across the entire empire by each and every employee, as they prepare to meet the challenges of today and grow in the future.

In the book “Roosevelt :  1940-1945 - Soldier of Freedom”, James Macgregor Burns wrote:

      “Where does leadership begin?... Where change begins.”