“Strategic leadership refers to a manager’s potential to express a strategic vision for the organization, or a part of the organisation, and to motivate and persuade others to acquire that vision.” (Mulyono et al., 2020).

Having your Vision set is a significant first step, but I often see leaders and business owners struggling to get these from “on-the-wall” visions to “off-the-wall” reality and integrated them into the hearts and minds of the team. So, get your Vision “off the wall”!

A great starting point is to have leaders operationalise and communicate their Vision into a short-term, more palatable, and personalised version. For example, Cameron Herold’s idea of a “Vivid Vision” suggests a shorter-term vision (three years) that is more detailed and actionable by the team. I would agree with that, although at an operational level, being able to do that each year also adds significant value.

In my experience, this is where mid-tier and front-line leaders have a capability gap. First, they don’t necessarily understand the fundamental difference between Vision, Mission, Culture and Strategy. Second, when they do, they find it hard to translate that into their own compelling Vision and then use that to influence their team in achieving it.

If you want to learn more about the critical differences between Vision, Mission, Culture and Strategy and how to leverage that with your teams, then click here for my future leadership program dates. You can also click this link for further information on my leadership development program and other resources.