Reasons for Deadly “Vision Void”

A few weeks ago I wrote about the importance of vision and gave well-known examples of its power to drive companies forward and even transform the marketplace (The All-Powerful Force of Vision). There are many other examples we could consider, but the bottom line is – it works, and it’s a necessity to thrive and survive.

Sadly, however, many companies/organizations today don’t see it that way. While most would certainly not discard the notion of vision outright, in practice it doesn’t play a central role and commitment is only half-hearted. While it may be characterized as “vision apathy,” it actually (and tragically) often leads to “vision void.” Since understanding the “reason why” is the first step in identifying a solution, lets consider some of the most common reasons for vision taking “a back seat.”

• Superstitious Fuzzy-Science: leaders (typically those with strong operational backgrounds) believe vision is an ethereal, abstract, “fuzzy science” that has little relevance for today. What counts is operational “busyness.” Measurable results today. Anything else is a waste of time.
• ISO Management Standards Culture: as companies grow and begin to follow the ritual of becoming “compliant” to “norms & regs,” vision is reduced to a line item on an audit checklist, a passing annual thought during budget reviews, or a generically-abstract assembly of vanilla phrases that is a mandatory piece of office wallpaper.
• Ambiguity Preserves Peace: it’s similar to what some view as the current policy in the Middle East. It goes like this: “since a clear vision would alienate certain factions (internally & externally), let’s periodically give positive & negative signals to all parties, keeping everyone equally frustrated and hopeful. Although we make little progress, at least there is equilibrium (temporarily), and we never ‘really’ have to decide.”

Do any of these reasons sound familiar? Have you observed an organization suffering from this perspective of vision, or even been part of one yourself?

Of course, what’s worse than the reasons themselves are the affects/result of “vision void.” We’ll consider what this looks like in upcoming posts. However, in the meantime, I’d be interested to hear if one of these reasons resonates with your experience and/or if you’ve seen others.

Picture:  Monika Bota via Compfight