Many people who approach the area of vision in leadership have it all backwards.
They believe that if the cause is good enough, people will automatically buy into it and follow. But that's not how leadership really works. People don't at first follow worthy causes. They follow worthy leaders who promote worthwhile causes. People buy into the leader first, then the leaders vision. Understanding that changes your whole approach to leading people.
Once people have bought into someone, they are willing to give his/her vision a chance. People want to go along with people they get along with.
You cannot separate the leader from the cause he promotes. It cannot be done. It's not an either/ or proposition. The two always go together. Here's a table that shows how people react to a leader and his vision under different circumstances
LEADER VISION RESULT
Don't Buy in Don't Buy in Get Another Leader
Don't Buy In Buy In Get Another Leader
Buy In Don't Buy In Get Another Vision
Buy In Buy In Get Behind the Leader
Here are different scenarios of how followers react:
WHEN FOLLOWERS DON'T LIKE THE LEADER OR THE VISION, THEY LOOK FOR ANOTHER LEADER
It's easy to understand the reaction of people when they don't like the leader or the vision. They don't follow, but they also do something else. They start looking for another leader. It's a no-win situation
WHEN FOLLOWERS DON'T LIKE THE LEADER, BUT THEY DO LIKE THE VISION, THEY STILL LOOK FOR ANOTHER LEADER
Even though people may think a cause is good, if they don't like the leader, they will go out and find another.
WHEN FOLLOWERS LIKE THE LEADER BUT NOT THE VISION, THEY CHANGE THE VISION
Even when people don't like a leader's vision, if they've already bough into him, they will keep following him. When followers don't agree with their leader's vision, they react in many ways. Sometimes they work to convince their leader to change his vision. Sometimes they abandon their point of view and adopt his. Other times they find a compromise. But as long as they still buy into the leader, they wont opt-out and reject him. They will keep following.
WHEN FOLLOWERS LIKE THE LEADER AND THE VISION, THEY WILL GE BEHIND BOTH
They will follow their leader no matter how bad conditions get or how much the odds are stacked against them. That's what inspired the U.S. space program to fulfill John F. Kennedy's vision and put a man on the moon. That's the reason people continue to have hope and keep alive the dream of Martin Luther King Jr., even after he was gunned down.
Please respond to the following questions:
1. Why might you stay with a leader whose vision began to depart from what it was when you began following him/ her?
2. Whose vision have you bought into? Why?
3. Do you know anyone in your profession of area that seems to have the ability to rally people around his/her vision? What have they done to deserve such a response?