Checking your vision

Published Oct. 19, 2010
By Col. Mark Allen
821st Air Base Group commander

THULE AIR BASE, Greenland -- Are you tired of the overwhelming inbox or the Microsoft Outlook death march through tons of "over-communicating?" Remember when things were clear and all seemed to make sense? Perhaps that never was the case, or perhaps you were much younger or had less responsibility. In any case, creating a vision for yourself, your workplace or your entire organization can bring clarity to your endeavors. So, here's an approach to take:

Step 1: Create your vision
"That's just crazy enough to work!" - Ghost Busters

You have vision; you just need inspiration from perspective. Then, cast your vision. For example, "compliance" sounds boring. But, once you realize that compliance is just doing your job as stated in governing guidance, some of which (e.g. "NOTES," "CAUTIONS" and "WARNINGS") were paid for in blood, and that once you do your job without mistake, you are at the "excellent" level and that no inspector can pull your credibility ... here comes the vision. "Team, we are going to be bullet-proof once we get this program into compliance and demonstrate consistent, repeatable success ... we will be on auto-pilot, daring any inspector to find a fault. Plan your vacations now, because they won't be able to poke holes in this program."

Step 2: Communicate your vision
"Teams succeed only when the players have a unified vision, no matter how much talent or potential there is. A team doesn't win the championship if its players have different agendas." -- John Maxwell, leadership expert

Even the "best sports teams money can buy" don't always do well. Get your key leaders or your informal leaders into a discussion about your vision. Prod and probe into their desire to be impact players and make a difference. You will soon see how important having a vision is to them. You will find commonalities among your people as to their hopes for the organization. Also, if you get them to help shape your vision, they will own it and then you're really talking powerful stuff.

Step 3: Put your vision into action
"Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with vision is making a positive difference." - Joel Barker, author

You have to put your vision to some form of test. Maybe all you have is a pipe-dream or your vision is too early/late for its time. Or, maybe your vision can be tweaked. But, you have to have tangible feedback that you and/or your people see, to fully test your vision for feasibility. If it's too crazy, it may still work. But, the power of belief is critical to seeing a vision through. If people don't believe it, they won't be willing to go on the journey with you. So, sincerely test out your vision against real circumstances. Recommend going for small victories first, like trying it out on a workplace visitor or asking your boss what he or she thinks. Once you get your vision moving, it will pick up momentum toward becoming reality.

Step 4: Clear out anything that's not helping you achieve your vision
"Foresight is the 'lead' the leader has. Once he loses this lead and events start to force his hand, he is leader in name only. He is not leading; he is reacting to immediate events and he probably will not long be a leader. There are abundant current examples of loss of leadership which stem from a failure to foresee what reasonably could have been foreseen, and from failure to act on that knowledge while the leader has freedom to act." -- Robert K. Greenleaf, author of The Servant as Leader

All too often we seem to manage our way out of any chance to lead. This step is the most fun because it will feel empowering, but two cautions go with it. First, make sure your vision is putting you toward mission accomplishment. You are brilliant, but we hired you for a mission, not just to be a visionary. Second, make sure your vision is subordinately linked to the vision at the next higher echelon. You are brilliant, but you are in a chain of command. We serve our country via lawful orders of our commanders. To have a vision that doesn't lead to carrying out our commander's intent is the opposite of mission accomplishment.

Step 5: Enjoy the clarity you created for you and/or your people
You may find this process iterative and continuous, which is the goal. If you are doing vision instead of tasks, you are creating futures instead of passing time.

There are many books on goal-setting, living life on purpose and other meaningful ways to gain clarity in our outlook. But, one thing that we all possess is the ability to envision. Remember anticipating good things as a child, how excited you would get? Why do we lose that excitement as adults? Perhaps we don't see the possibilities all around us.

You see at Thule we have a vision. We want to be the preferred place you come to serve your country. The arctic offers many challenges. We can't promise you luxury, cushy weather or great downtown activities. But, we can deliver what you said you wanted -- a chance to bravely serve your country in an uncommon way. We deliver mission excellence as Airmen on a mission ... who just happen to be at Thule. Airmen have had challenges ever since the Wright Brothers sold us a few Wright flyers and we had to figure out how to use the new technology to -- yes, it was true then, as it is now -- fly, fight and win.

That's what Airmen do! We take very smart people, mold them as a team and ask them to figure out how to bend cutting edge technology into the warfight -- our jobs require problem-solving, innovation and courage. We find ways to defeat the enemy and minimize risk to our own forces, the very essence of air superiority and space superiority -- but we need your vision to make it happen.