HT Whiteboard: Creating a Vision (Stage 3)

In Step 3 of James Mallon’s summary of John Kotter’s book, “Leading Change”, Mallon explains the importance of creating a vision to align your team and create momentum.

Video Transcript

Hi, Jamie Mallin here from Humantech (now VelocityEHS Ergonomics), back with another installment of HT Whiteboard. If you recall, we’re reviewing this book called, Leading Change by John Kotter, and he details the eight-stage process of how to transform an organization.

Usually, when you’re transforming an organization, it’s all about change, and what you’re trying to change is really something you don’t like. One of the things we have to think about is that it’s not just about being upset or disgusted with the present. We have to create a vision for the future. You need a guiding coalition of people who have enough power to do that in that organization, and now you need them to work together towards a common goal and be able to communicate that common goal to the rest of the organization. That’s where vision comes in.

I love this little equation I’m about to put up here, because like I said, it’s not enough to be disgusted with the present. You’ve got to create a vision for people to see what could be in the future to motivate them to change. So, vision multiplied by the disgust for the present equals change.

Now, obviously, having a vision isn’t enough either. You will also have to consider strategies to put in place. What are the strategic imperatives you’re going to put in place? What plans are you going to make? And what kind of budgets are you going to have? And finally, out of that, comes activities. Those are the day-to-day that everyone works on.

A vision as a whole is important because what it does is it clarifies what you want people to do and how you want them to act, and what we’re trying to achieve in the long term. It gives them a vision for where we’re going. Similarly, it aligns people in a way of thinking. It gives them a way of structuring their lives or their day-to-day work tasks that align with the vision without them having to be micromanaged. They can make decisions and decide on their activities to move you towards that vision.

And finally, a key thing that a vision does is that it creates momentum through motivation. Very, very important aspects. When we talk about creating a vision, we will also be talking about communicating that vision to the organization. That’s what we’re going to talk about in the next installment of “HT Whiteboard”.

Until then, I hope you’re doing well, and I look forward to talking to you soon.

Video Transcript

Hi, Jamie Mallin here from Humantech (now VelocityEHS Ergonomics), back with another installment of HT Whiteboard. If you recall, we’re reviewing this book called, Leading Change by John Kotter, and he details the eight-stage process of how to transform an organization. Usually, when you’re transforming an organization, it’s all about change, and what you’re trying to change is really something you don’t like. One of the things we have to think about is that it’s not just about being upset or disgusted with the present. We have to create a vision for the future. You need a guiding coalition of people who have enough power to do that in that organization, and now you need them to work together towards a common goal and be able to communicate that common goal to the rest of the organization. That’s where vision comes in. I love this little equation I’m about to put up here, because like I said, it’s not enough to be disgusted with the present. You’ve got to create a vision for people to see what could be in the future to motivate them to change. So, vision multiplied by the disgust for the present equals change. Now, obviously, having a vision isn’t enough either. You will also have to consider strategies to put in place. What are the strategic imperatives you’re going to put in place? What plans are you going to make? And what kind of budgets are you going to have? And finally, out of that, comes activities. Those are the day-to-day that everyone works on. A vision as a whole is important because what it does is it clarifies what you want people to do and how you want them to act, and what we’re trying to achieve in the long term. It gives them a vision for where we’re going. Similarly, it aligns people in a way of thinking. It gives them a way of structuring their lives or their day-to-day work tasks that align with the vision without them having to be micromanaged. They can make decisions and decide on their activities to move you towards that vision. And finally, a key thing that a vision does is that it creates momentum through motivation. Very, very important aspects. When we talk about creating a vision, we will also be talking about communicating that vision to the organization. That’s what we’re going to talk about in the next installment of “HT Whiteboard”. Until then, I hope you’re doing well, and I look forward to talking to you soon.