The Value of Vision

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By Thomas Davis, CRNA

“You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going because you might not get there” – Yogi Berra

On May 25^th, 1961 John F. Kennedy had a vision and shared it with the American public. “By the end of the decade we will send a man to the moon and safely return him to earth.” The race to space was launched. NASA quickly became one of the most important Government Agencies, spurring math and science to dominate higher education.   Clearly, Kennedy had inspired the nation and when Neil Armstrong took the first step on the Moon in 1969 the vision was fulfilled. Creating, sharing and gaining commitment to a vision produced amazing results.

Creating a vision is the first step toward success and is all too often overlooked by emerging leaders. In his book The7 habits of highly effective people, author Stephen Covey recommends that we start with the end in mind.  As a leader, having and sharing a greater goal is essential for producing collaborative teamwork and achieving the desired goal.   Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Kouzes and Posner state that when workers are asked to describe the characteristics of a great boss, creating and sharing a vision are rated as very important. Across the board, leadership trainers and coaches agree on the importance of a vision when attempting to develop a highly effective team.   Having a vision and implementing it is the difference between leading and managing.

What is a vision statement? A vision statement is a short sentence or tagline that defines where you want to go and describes your future state. Sharing the vision and encouraging collaboration helps to define how you will get there.  The vision statement should be easy to remember and it should align with the needs and goals of your workgroup as well as the mission of the larger organization. Individuals in a workgroup may disagree on technical issues, however, everyone should be in agreement with the greater vision. The vision statement must be well known to the group, be achievable, and function as a point of reference when administrative decisions are made. Always ask, “Does this decision/policy support our vision?”

Corporations often condense their vision into a catchphrase easily remembered by both their workforce and the public.

• “Where imagination meets nature” – Seaworld
• “To provide access to the world’s information in one click” – Google
• “People working together as a lean, global enterprise for automotive leadership” – Ford

When both employees and customers know the vision, there is common ground for aligning expectations not only about what is to be done but also how business is to be conducted.

Vision statements are equally important in healthcare to provide focus to all members of the organization, both professional and support staff.   In my tenure at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Texas, any employee could be asked the vision of the organization – To be the most trusted and valued name in Healthcare in America – and it rolled off their lips.   Every employee knew and embraced the vision.  The Cleveland Clinic boasts that they have no employees, only caregivers. The tagline well known to every Cleveland Clinic employee is, “We are all caregivers.” Coincidentally, after adopting the tagline, employee engagement scores have improved throughout the organization.

Status quo is a powerful force. Vision and courage are needed to make meaningful changes. A new healthcare manager, James, was hired to be the Chief Nurse Anesthetist in a department known for low morale and recruiting problems. Clearly an opportunity for improvement existed and focus was needed to transform a dysfunctional workgroup into a collaborative team. As a new leader, James shared his vision “to be the Nurse Anesthesia employer of choice in America” and went to work communicating the vision with the group. In a subsequent meeting, each member of the group was asked to describe what would be required to achieve the vision. Discussion identified things that could be changed immediately and things that would need to change over time.   The group walked away enthused and engaged with a commitment to become an employer of choice. Over the following year, results were amazing and now the group has more applicants than openings and employee satisfaction scores have improved.   The success achieved by a group of Nurse Anesthetists with a shared vision is typical of what can happen in any group with a common focus.

All too often we laugh at comments like the Yogi Berra quote above and then continue to go through our daily tasks without a unifying vision or goal.   Just as GE is a place where “we bring good things to life,” a leader, must have a vision and then engage the group to bring life to the stated vision.

Watch for the follow-up article for tips on how to write and implement a vision.

Thomas Davis is an experienced clinical anesthetist, leader, author, speaker and teambuilding coach.