Meetings are used for many things. One missed opportunity I see in many meetings is failing to communicate, clarify or rally around vision. In my book Be Mean About The Vision: Preserving and Protecting What Matters, I reveal the most crucial vision questions; and I’m giving them to you here. Use these in your next meeting (or as the entire meeting) to re-infuse your team with a sense of purpose and direction!
Why are we here?
Vision is not WHAT we do, it’s WHY we do it. Use meeting time to remind your team of the WHY. Why do we exist? Why were we created? What is our mission? Use stories of success and wins to illustrate the reason everyone is putting so much effort into your organization’s endeavors.
Where are we going now?
Leadership begins by defining reality. Take time in meetings to own where you are and what will happen if you maintain the same course of direction. Answer questions like: If the current direction remained constant, where would we end up? Where is the organization currently headed? When everything is headed in the right direction, use this time to encourage and refuel the efforts of your team. In the moments when a course correction needs to be made, this is the chance to adjust and set a new path of execution.
Where do we want to go?
After you determine where you are and where you’re headed, there is space to adjust your aim. Asking questions like: “What is the desired destination? What is the win? What is our goal? How will we know if we have been successful?” all help define where you’re wanting to go next. As the leader, this provides you the opportunity to cast fresh vision or add life to what may have grown stale.
How do we take everyone there?
Now that we know where we are and where we need to go, how will we get everyone aligned around it? During this time, logistics and planning matter. How and when will we communicate it? How will we make the leaders stakeholders of it? How will we get everyone else onboard? What meetings need to begin to happen, when, and with whom?
Don’t overcomplicate this. Don’t procrastinate. Begin asking these questions in your meetings today with your team and watch the temperature begin to change rapidly! Don’t wander around in the wilderness. Where there is no vision, people cast off restraint and go their own way. Where there is vision, there is life, health, and growth! And meetings are a great way to lead through vision.
