As we step into the tee box we should set the vision and alignment on where we are going. Our goal in golf is to get the ball into the cup with the fewest strokes possible. In addition, we should have the skills to complete that task.
Imagine stepping up on the tee box and the course has no green, no flag and no cup. There is no way of knowing where you should aim, no way to knowing when you have success. An organization without goals is pretty much the same. Without defined core values, without a vision for the future and without goals, an organization will have no way to lead it's employees to predetermined targets, which are critical for short term and long term success. Yet that is how some organizations operate.
In both golf and leadership, goals are important as is having a strategy to achieve them. In order to achieve a goal, our vision must be clear, cogent and compelling. A vision should paint a picture of what the future holds and should unite a group. It is not a strategic plan, but can help develop your strategic plan.
When a leader takes the initiative to develop and communicate a vision, it isn't usually two hundred twenty five yards down the middle of the fairway. Like sand, water, trees, and divots, the vision will encounter unexpected obstacles to achieving the goal.
Creating a vision and communicating it to the people you lead is part of the process, and probably the easiest part. Alignment and following through to achieve it are the most difficult.
If we are trying to improve our golf game we may watch a video to implement techniques a professional has suggested to lower our score. After watching the video we go out to the driving range to practice, and perhaps our shots improve. But then comes the real test: playing a game. During that game we still hit the bad shots we previously did before watching the video and realize there has been no real improvement.
What will you do? Revisit your vision or fall back to your old habits and assume that improvement will happen at its own pace? That's the problem with change, particularly large transformational change. No matter how well the vision is articulated, if people don't see the improvement they regress to their comfort zone. In golf we keep playing and hoping that change to our game will come eventually.
What is needed is alignment. Seeing the vision is challenging, but success will come when we have alignment and follow through; that's 80% of the battle. We have to take "dead aim." If you want to go to the pin, take dead aim at the pin. Golf and leadership success depend on alignment, without both you can't succeed. Alignment has to occur on each shot. The first shot supports the second, the second supports the third and the third supports the putt into the cup. That's a par.
According to Don Sanders, in his book Go for the Green, he states that in order to create a vision that establishes urgency and stimulates action, the following eight steps are essential.
