The Second Book The 74th Chapter - Give Vision

Nov 3/17

Do you have the ability to see the big picture?  If you do, do you help others see the vision as well?  Or perhaps you feel the need to see more than you have before?

To see the big picture of your reality, to some this ability comes naturally and with ease, hence we view them as natural born leaders.  To others that don't have this ability it can be taught.  If you find yourself wanting to see more and your not able too and you are not sure what your next step is.  You can relax as you have just completed your first step on leaning your vision. 

Now your next step is to identify someone you know that just seems to get "it" and ask if they will teach you.  This process development time will vary depending on your relationship with your vision mentor and how much time you spend working your new skill.  Once you learn your skill of vision then it is your obligation to freely give this gift of sight to others.

My story on this is about a good friend of mine that I have known for about 6 years now.  We first met when he joined my training team at my former position.  I remember meeting him for the first time in the interview process and how much youth type energy he showed.  Any question asked of him he had an answer of how to solve the question.  He also had deep and insightful life experiences that he brought to his new role.

As he started in his position, he quickly made new positive work relationships and accomplished many new tasks at his work.  With all this positive qualities it became quite apparent he lacked the ability to see the big picture.  Due to this lack of ability he was not able to utilize his full potential.  John Maxwell has stated leadership is influence, nothing more nothing less.  As he couldn't see the big picture when he had to lead other leaders he wasn't able to articulate the importance of his vision, as his vision didn't exist.  His lack of ability in this one area had nothing to do with his attitude, in fact his attitude was always positive.  When you don't know you don't see and that is not a reflection on anyone's competence.  The reality is once a leader identifies this issue in a team member, competence directly transfers to the leader as well as accountability of the performance of the team member. 

It was at that time we started to meet on a weekly basis on training the skill of seeing the big picture.  The overall theme was to debrief on his last week and ask him from his perspective how it went on building his vision.  Did the conversations and projects all have alignment on what the organization required of him to increase the overall value?  Most of the time through his own reflection he was able to identify where he succeeded and where he needed to improve.  When he wasn't able to answer my questions, I would provide him with direction on next steps.

This process took about a year and once he saw the vision he couldn't unsee.  We still remain in touch and I will never forget his excitement as he shared with me that he is now teaching others this process.  I knew at that moment that each moment spent with him will continue to remain and grow.

In that moment I knew I had a small part in his growth and the high sense of self-satisfication I felt was truly a gift.

Out of a rating scale of 1-10, where would you rate your vision?  What are your next steps going to be?