Every leader should have a vision. They should definitely have a personal vision for their desired leadership, but there is also a need to have a vision for their crew, project or company. While many leaders possess a mental vision of what they see, they rarely “cast” that vision effectively.
When one casts their vision, they are presenting that vision to those involved with contributing to the success of that vision. Such an effort works to Eight steps construction leaders can take to communicate their vision for results to efforts.
Early in President John F. Kennedy’s presidency, he cast a vision to the American people and to those engaged with space exploration. His vision was to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. While he didn’t live to see that day, Neil Armstrong would soon take,“That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
Those who closely monitored and reported on the efforts that ended in the first ever moon walk, all agreed that there was incredible energy and extra focus committed to achieving that vision. It probably didn’t hurt the USA spirit by trying to accomplish the feat before our space competitor, the USSR, could do the same, but excel they did in winning that race.
While sending an astronaut to the moon may be a little more dramatic than what many construction leaders deal with, the same sense of importance and purpose of casting a vision is still at play. So, how then does a construction leader cast his or her vision to those who are participating in the work at hand? The effort may not be as difficult as you think; in fact, it’s actually quite simple.
1. First, be sure that you have a vision and that it is clear to you.
As stated earlier, every leader should have a vision. Related to what we are addressing in this article, a leader should have a vision for how they want their workers to cooperate and collaborate in accomplishing a project. This vision might also include how they want to see their job or project approached, including the complete respect and compliance to safety requirements, quality standards and documentation needs.
2. The next step in casting your vision is to simply share this vision with those who make up the team engaged with achieving the desired result.
This effort certainly requires that you address your team verbally. I have found it beneficial to sometimes use diagrams, stories or other similar work examples to further the understanding of my vision. The old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” is really apropos at this point. Most people relate well to stories and visuals when understanding a vision. They also retain more of the intended message with such subtle resources if used properly.
3. Check on the understanding of your vision casting by following up with personal conversations with your team members.
Simply ask a few of your people, “What did you understand about the vision I shared?” This effort will reinforce your intent for the vision to be understood, retained and pursued. You may receive feedback that suggests you to go back and edit or modify your vision, as there are some components that may be difficult for some members to understand.
4. Take advantage of little opportunities to remind others of the vision.
Some of the simpler ways to do this is just through daily conversations, emails and texts. Often, someone will veer off the vision a bit, thus presenting an opportunity for you to simply ask how the diversion is supporting the vision. For example, let’s say that one of your people has some information that should be passed on to others but they are running late for a scheduled meeting. They are tempted to not pass on the needed info until after their meeting is concluded. But two to three hours in a meeting may be too late for the information to have saved the other workers quite a bit of frustration.
As the leader who shared the vision to keep each other updated to the most recent of developments, you have an opportunity to reinforce your vision by simply encouraging the worker to take the extra ninety seconds and e-mail the needed information to his or her co-workers.
5. Refresh the vision by making it a brief update at each staff or team meeting.
If part of your vision was to ensure that we maintain, “first class relations” with the client, you might simply ask for examples or testimonies of such efforts. Restress the importance of living the vision as it relates to a particular effort.
6. Practice and embrace the vision personally.
This may sound too simple but I have found that leaders can be just as guilty in not living their own vision as anyone. If, for example, part of your vision was for each member to treat others with respect and to work to maintain transparency among the team, then you must live the same. So, the next time one of your team members comes up with an off-the-wall idea that’s never been done before in the history of construction, maintain a respectful presence with them, choosing to thank them for the idea or to ask them to expand on why they believe in their idea.
Why would any other team member maintain their focus to fulfill the vision if their own leader breaks the perceived spirit of the vision?
7. Celebrate the little victories that the vision is being embraced.
Often a contractor might celebrate hitting milestones of work such as “topping out barbeques” when a building has been finally enclosed. But how often does a project team or department celebrate when they clearly experience a “W” for the vision? Hardly ever! Let me share another example that I think brings this effort to light.
A client of mine has a project manager and superintendent who are one of the best leadership teams for a project that I’ve known. Part of the vision that they cast to their team, and to the sub-trade leaders participating on the project, was that they wanted to see their weekly meetings conducted with professionalism. They also wanted a project culture where no question asked would go unanswered and that the person asking the question would not be ridiculed or embarrassed.
After conducting a particularly challenging meeting, one that had high stress and stakes for all involved, the PM and superintendent noticed that at no time during this very difficult meeting was there anything other than a culture of openness, direct but respectful disagreement and, finally, a real coming together of all parties toward a solution that would not be easy on all of the contractors.
This leadership team was so impressed with this embracing of the vision that they arranged a special dinner for the people involved and their significant others. While the dinner did cost about $1,200, it sent a clear message of affirmation to those involved and the project continued to maintain the same along this same to completion.
8. Finally, develop some goals based on the vision itself.
Every project has some level of goals or objectives that are created. “We need to be completed with the footings in 90 days.” Or, “We will have all of the windows in by April 12.”
Such goals are normal but more important, they are important to project teams serious about getting things accomplished. The same effort should be applied when trying to achieve a vision. Let me show you how this might apply with a vision.
Consider the follow vision for a project that a PM and superintendent cast to their project members and sub-trade specialist.
Our vision for this project is to embrace teamwork based on mutual respect for every project member, working to communicate in a direct and friendly manner, to go to others directly when there is a misunderstanding or mistake made, and to always share information and opinions in full confidence that such information and opinions will be welcomed and appreciated.
Now, for this casted vision, here are the goals that the team developed to help measure some very hard to measure human activity.
Goal #1 – There will be a weekly “paper plate” award presented to project members for exemplifying the spirit of the vision. Such “plates” will be attached to the “Wall of Honor” for others to read and be inspired to emulate.
Goal #2 – The number of “positive interactions” each member experiences will be individually tallied and provided to the Asst. PM weekly, who will post the collective results every Monday.
Goal #3 – The incidents of information sharing that leads to a better solution, a correction of a mistake, or to the improvement of quality, safety or customer satisfaction will be collected by each individual and submitted to our APM, who will post the results on the first Monday of each month.
Now, you may think this effort a bit cumbersome. In reality, it was one of the most energetic and profitable projects I have ever witnessed. Sure, there were countless “incidents” that went uncounted but the point is, more right behavior activity was being generated. This particular project was about 20 months in length and in their post-job reviews, the comments from project members, including the sub-trade leaders who may only have been on the site for a few months, were all very positive about the experience.
Casting your vision is serious business and can open up so many doors to new ideas, better innovation of old ideas and unleash an incredible amount of energy and excitement. Don’t underestimate what the power of your vision is for your next project or within your current department…just be sure to cast it clearly and then follow-up in executing the eight techniques shared in this article.
Here’s to casting your vision and to catching a whale of a result!
