Is Corporate Vision Possible?
My friend Steve Marshall recently wrote a post, Following The Vision, over at his excellent Photo-Dialogue blog. We are both fans of the organisation theorist Ralph Stacey. Steve quotes Stacey on corporate vision:
“If the future is inherently unpredictable, it follows that a single, organisation-wide ’shared vision’ of a future state must be impossible to formulate, unless we believe in mystic insight. Any such vision that managers put forward is then bound to be either a dangerous illusion or an interpretation of what has happened with the benefit of hindsight”
Business As Whitewater Rafting
I have written elsewhere, in How Organisations Work And Don’t Work, about hearing Jim Balsillie using the metaphor of whitewater rafting to describe business, which he describes as a series of optimisations. He compares it to white‐water rafting. You know roughly the direction of the course but energies are constantly in the moment to keep the boat afloat and heading in the right direction as quickly and safely as possible, while avoiding the rock that has just come into view.
Balsillie says the same thing as Stacey about claiming intention after an event; if things turn out well (and randomly) the tendency is to believe that the outcome was intentional.
Man On Wire
I found myself thinking about this the other evening, watching Man on Wire. It has been a long time since I was so enthralled watching a documentary. It is the story of how a young Frenchman, a tightrope walker, pulled off an audacious stunt and walked between the Twin Towers in New York. So much about the tale was absorbing. As well as watching it for its own sake, I couldn’t help drawing business comparisons.
Again, I have said elsewhere that I have an issue with leadership. I do not follow leaders and I do not expect people to follow me. Work with me, yes, but follow implies subservience. In my mind, of course.
The wirewalking stunt was only possible because of the burning passion and obsession that drove the walker. And it was fascinating to see how he enlisted the help of friends and strangers. The friends out of loyalty and the strangers because they thought the deed was outrageous and was also a two-finger gesture to the authorities.
The logistics and practicalities of getting the ropes anchored, illegally and dodging past security, were mind-blowing.
But the thing that really interested me was how the enterprise came to happen at all. He began dreaming about it six years before, even before the towers were built. Such excitement when the towers were actually built. Then he spent months planning and simulating the conditions he would face, including getting his friends to jump up and down and shake the rope to try to dislodge him. This was to try simulating the effects of wind.
But the thing that really, really interested me was what he did as time got closer to the event. He built physical models of the towers. He visualised where the anchor points for the rope would go. Making it ‘real’, physical and observable was important to him.
But the thing that really, really, really interested me what was what he did in the hours before. He drew on walls; he drew what he was soon to face. He drew to make it real, to work it out, and he drew to make his thoughts and emotions visible. And if I remember correctly, abandoned his first attempt. He knew he was not ready.
Corporate Vision A Dangerous Illusion?
I have a vision for The Smart Work Company. It has been so long in the gestating that I wonder if I am fooling myself that it will happen. Having a vision for what I want the business to be is of course not going to make it so.
Having a vision, though, helps me plot and plan. And after all that, I might not succeed. Who knows what will happen? But I am now steadily getting everything in place, and pace is gathering. Like the ropewalker, I know what I want to do and am busy assembling all the bits. The next thing is to see who wants to join me.
I imagine the feeling of watching the business take shape might be something like stepping out on the wire. The fear will disappear and the exhilaration kick in. Corporate vision for me is not only possible, it is crucial.
Thanks for the link – and such a good challenge! I watched Man on Wire too – absolutely brilliant and his pursuit of a clearly defined vision was remarkable.
I like your sense of corporate vision as ‘crucial’ and I feel myself being energised by the way you describe your vision for The Smart Work Company. I’m reminded of the ‘vision’ and energy that I hold for my own work…
And… this week I have been speaking with a group of colleagues as we try to turn ‘our’ vision into reality. It feels like our collective visions are colliding rather than coalescing into a single image! Will there be enough to hold us together? Will we ‘buy-in’ to a shared vision?
Some time ago I spoke with a psychologist (an eminent Scot!) who said that groups form around ’shared significance”. I have an image in my head of overlapping circles in my head – like a Venn Diagram. The ’shared significance’ would be the area of overlap.
So, I suspect that the collective (corporate?) ‘vision’ will hold only if there is enough ’shared significance’ and there will always be conflicting priorities in the mix as people and circumstances inevitably change.
I feel that ‘vision’ is helpful as long as it doesn’t become too rigid; a point for conversation and negotiation, maybe…
However, I am also a fan of film director Michael Winner’s approach: ‘A high performing team is a group of people doing exactly what I say…’
Hi Steve
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments, which as always are deeply appreciated. My apologies for taking some days to respond.
I laughed when Phillipe Petit said “It’s impossible, that’s sure. So let’s get to work.” I love that as a philosophy.
I hope I did not sound as though I was being challenging. I meant to be reflective. A single, organisation-wide vision cannot be possible. One event, walking on a wire between the Twin Towers for example, can arguably satisfy multiple visions i.e. the act of the walk, maybe his girlfriend’s vision was the fulfilment of her wish to see him walk, and the strangers’ visions connected with seing the faces of those in authority. I am obviously excercising some imagination here.
Vision as a point for conversation and dialogue – definitely! I think that what you are saying about buying into a Venn diagram of shared visions is powerful. It has taken me some time, as you know, to work out the practicalities of my own vision. And now I am in search of collaborators whose equally wrestled-with visions might be synergistically combined to our mutual advantage. That’s what I meant by working with people and not expecting followers of what I seek to do.
Thanks again Steve.