Between Vision and Reality
Balancing aspiration with practical work
David’s recent series on leadership models prompted me to revisit Eileen Shapiro’s Fad Surfing in the Boardroom1.
She has an amusing definition of vision (p. 3):
What Moses experienced when he wandered for too long in the desert; coordinated and persistent hallucinations characteristic of dementia or paranoid schizophrenia.
Shapiro goes on to mention that “… the road to failure has been paved with compelling but flawed visions” (p. 6). She does go on to say that there are visions for organisations that do work.
You might well have been subjected to a grand “vision”, with much flurry about what will happen, and perhaps rolled your eyes on hearing it.
It might have been too prescriptive about what would happen in the future. Unrealistic. We cannot create 20/20 pictures of the future.
There may have been an attempt at a broad-based participatory approach. Again, unrealistic in Shapiro’s view.
Interestingly, a quick online search will elicit advice such as including staff, customers, and stakeholders. It is highly unlikely that any organisation is able to do that, given staff shortages and other pressures, let alone manage it well.
It was also interesting that the online search produced much the same advice that was circulating 30 years ago. Enough to awaken one’s Inner Cynic.
Still, we must remember that there are visions that do work, even if we suspect they are rare.
Shapiro suggests that:
“… visions grow out of mindsets and passions, not mechanics and process, and any vision that does not capture the mindsets and passions of those who control the resources required for its implementation stands little chance for success.” (p.13)
The question then is whether the mindsets and passions of those controlling the resources inspire and guide those who have to bring the vision into effect.
Whether it does or doesn’t, the question now is what the Subversive Manager is to do.
If … if … the vision is truly inspiring and workable, we can continue to ensure that our team fulfils its specific purpose and, in doing so, furthers progress towards the idealised design that the vision represents.2
More challenging. What if the so-called vision is simply organisational mumbo-jumbo? (Is my Inner Cynic showing?)
Then the Subversive Manager can do much of what David suggested in The Cult of Charisma. Focus on what you and your team can do that is truly useful and effective, and frame it as contributing to the vision.
Between you and your team members, it is useful to hold in mind some simple words from Shapiro (p. 14):
“… many companies would do well to aim for providing products their customers want to buy and environments in which their employees want to work.”
Shapiro, E.C. (1995) Fad surfing in the boardroom. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts
See the work of Russell Ackoff on idealised design; e.g. Ackoff, R.L., Magidson, J. & Addison, H.J. (2006) Idealized Design: Creating an Organization’s Future. Wharton School Publishing, Upper Saddle River, NJ