“SO-SO Busy, I am RUN off my feet”, Jane responded. A possible plethora of other responses ran through her head, to the very simple question “How are you doing?” Her new position was the opportunity that she knew could ‘establish her career’. She was known as a producer, delivered on outcomes which had been rewarded with promotion. Now the pressure to get results was even greater but she also needed to get the Big Picture. Whatever that meant?

All indications are that we are under pressure. People, like Jane, now days are suffering from BUSY-SICKNESS and admit to being TIME POOR. We feel like we are on the treadmill just trying to keep up. The end result is a lack of fulfilment and inspiration as we maintain our SO-SO Busy stance.

A TOP MISTAKE THAT LEADERS, if not all of us, make is not stopping regularly to PONDER THE BIGGER PICTURE. Whether you call it

• A Vision retreat
• ‘Working ON the business not IN the business’
• A Strategy retreat
• Proactive time
• A Horizon meeting, or
• A Pitstop

These Envisioning moments are an essential ingredient to effective leadership. However, the vortex of busyness gradually and persistently sucks us into the day to day demands of running a business. Unfortunately, in this Time-Poor environment, ‘Vision Retreats’ are one of the first things to get relegated to the “I must do that when I get time” category. The end result being that these “Envisioning times” become extinct.

Ask yourself

• When last did I take a Vision retreat?
• How much of my week is allocated working ON the business and not IN the business?
• Do I really feel connected to the purpose or am I just tired?
• I am genuinely excited about what we are trying to achieve?

It is not a surprise that academic research has highlighted the decline in the amount of time leaders are spending on the ‘big picture’. Leaders are spending less and less time contemplating the future, the dream and why they are doing what they doing. They eventually lose inspiration as the machine takes more and more energy to keep going.

Where Leadership Begins

Let’s remind ourselves that leadership begins when you catch a glimpse of that pulse-quickening idea. A vision of what could be and the desire to get there. These epiphanies can happen in the shower, over a cup of coffee or triggered by something you read. Regardless of how it arrives organisations are born from the energy of an IDEA, some creative spark that excites us.

Like a marriage, it is the honeymoon stage of leadership. Exciting, alluring and has an energy that can take on the world. However, like any healthy marriage, we need to keep dating, working on the romance and investing into the relationship.  Failure to do this and your marriage can quickly become a statistic.

Date the Vision

When leaders fail to ‘Date the Vision’ they quickly lose sight of the big picture, strategic opportunities get missed, competitors leapfrog you with new innovative ideas and the wheels start falling off the wagon. All because you were not proactive in “Dating the Vision’.

Moving ahead in our personal life and business requires that you “Date the Vision” on a regular basis. It can be one hour in a coffee bar, half a day with your office door closed or a few days allocated to working on the ‘Big Picture’. Whatever form it takes, you need to prioritise and schedule the time otherwise the busyness vortex will fill your time.

Last month when I was running our MAXENGAGE seminar we were discussing taking regular ‘VISION RETREATS’. The leaders unanimously loved the concept but admitted that they did not schedule them in because they had NO clue what they would do if they scheduled one in.

My Formula has been relatively simple but provided a sound structure for how my time is allocated when “Dating the Vision”. Regardless of how much time I have, I try and equally divide my time into four sections.

Four Functions of a Vison retreat

FEEL – the Vision

• Recharge yourself by connecting with what the organisation or your life will look like in its ideal state.
• What are the benefits of pursuing the dream?
• Why are you doing what you are doing?
• What needs will it meet?

FEED – the Vision

• Read something that inspires you
• Listen to some inspirational material, lectures or thought leaders in your area of influence
• Get some input that inspires and feeds your sense of energy and inspiration.

FOCUS – the Vision

• Step back and take a Big Picture Perspective on where your business is going?
• How are the constituent parts of the business performing?
• What do you need to focus on in order to move vigorously towards your goals?
• What do you need to refocus on (Perhaps a there is an area that is distracted)

FORESIGHT – In relation to the vision

• What are your predictions for the future?
• Where is the industry going?
• What innovations are on the horizon?

Back to Jane

It has been four months since Jane pondered her future and what would set her apart from other leaders. Yes, business is busy but it was her responsibility to connect with the vision, to catch a glimpse of that pulse-quickening idea and feed her desire to get there.

Looking back, she realised how powerful those times had been.

• She was in control
• Was able to be more strategic rather than blindsided by issues
• Excited about the direction they were heading in and because of this
• Found leadership came naturally.

Discussion Question.

1. How many hours a week do you feel leaders nowadays dedicate to ‘Dating the Vision”
2. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your connection to the Dream?
3. How much time is spent contemplating what the future may look like?

By Aiden Holliday

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