Communicating Vision

A common vision is the key to a productive, efficient and highly motivated team. But communicating a vision to the team is often challenging. The following story, quoted from Annette Simmons' excellent The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence, and Persuasion Through the Art of Storytelling, helps explain the succinctness of a vision:

A man came upon a construction site where three people were working.

He asked the first, "What are you doing?" and the man answered, "I am laying bricks."

He asked the second, "What are you doing?" and the man answered, "I am building a wall."

He walked up to the third man, who was humming a tune as he worked [not sure why this is relevant, lol...] and asked, "What are you doing?" and the man stood up and said, "I am building a cathedral." (p. 16-17)



The vision brings all of the elements of a project - or of one's work in general - together, providing employees with the roots of their effort. Without vision an employee or team member is much like a tree without roots. I have found the bricks-to-wall-to-cathedral metaphor to be particularly powerful.