Last year we started this journey through Emotional Intelligence (EI), studied and described by Daniel Goleman as the capacity we all have to lead our relationships and ourselves. During this period, we navigated through its essential capabilities: self-awareness, self-management, and social awareness. We are now moving to the fourth pillar, which is social skills.
People use social skills to communicate and interact with others, both verbally and non-verbally. In Goleman’s theory, the social skills are described as our capacity of being visionary leaders, influencing and developing others, communicating well, being a change catalyst, managing conflict, building bonds, working in teams and collaborating.
In this article, I will reflect upon visionary leadership and how you can develop a vision that could inspire and positively impact your team and people around you.
What It is to Be a Visionary Leader?
A visionary leader can take charge and lead a group naturally. They share a compelling vision that inspires others to be engaged and follow them. However, this vision goes beyond an organization’s vision, mission, and values, even though, it also penetrates and has a big impact on the work environment.
Their vision attracts and affects each employee who is engaged in working in the organization. But you are probably asking yourself: How do I become a visionary leader?
As a visionary leader, you share a vision that excites and motivates others to pursue goals and make the vision a reality. In this sense, the following could be the fundamentals for becoming a visionary leader:
Lead by example
It is about consistency, integrity, setting an example and being a role model. People will follow you and share the same vision if they see consistency between your speech and behavior on a daily basis. Additionally, you should earn the respect and trust of your team, without the use of power or hierarchy.
READ: Organizational Awareness: Are You Able to Read the Signs?
In Kouzes and Posner’s book, “The Leadership Challenge”, being a role model is described as “model the way”. For the authors, leaders ‘modeling the way’ break down the bigger picture into achievable goals and they remove obstacles that could hinder smooth transition. Leaders guide and encourage the team along the way.
Find a Common Purpose
Visionary leaders understand that they cannot impose a vision, command engagement or order to be followed. Although, in the military service and policy departments, institutions that are focused on command and control, it is a common practice. However, I will not explore or include these in this article.
A visionary leader inspires and shares a vision, and it has accomplished when there is a common purpose between the leader, team and the organization.
The purpose will be the driving force behind accomplishments and achieving shared goals. There is nothing more powerful than purpose in promoting teamwork in the organization. Paradoxically, most of HR and managers still concentrate their efforts on encouraging the use of new technology and training to increase collaboration.
To recognize this common purpose, you should listen carefully to people around you and figure out what brings meaning to the team’s daily work.
Inspire Others
Your behavior inspires others. You demonstrate your commitment and passion in the way you communicate and interact in meetings, presentations and daily activities.
To inspire their team, visionary leaders must understand the importance of a shared vision. It is less about them and more about the team. Leaders should be able to share a vision that is meaningful and has a positive impact on everyone involved in the area or team.
When a vision is shared, we can attract more people from outside and sustain higher levels of engagement and performance inside the organization.
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Take on responsibility
Visionary leaders know the difficulties of implementing new ideas and challenging the status quo in the organization, which to some extent, could be a risk for the leaders and their followers. Therefore, it’s critical that the leaders take responsibility for the actions and the vision they are sharing.
Although as a leader, you must pursue a common goal to reach a shared vision, you cannot expect your team to sacrifice everything for it as you would be willing to do. Even in hardship, visionary leaders take on the responsibility to move forward and chose to do what no one has done before.
Visionary leaders thrive on dreaming and making new things a reality, instead of just improving the current situation. But they are humble in recognizing that they will not reach a vision alone, the team has a crucial role to play, and together they will bring results and shape a better future for the organization they work for.
“Perhaps the most distinguishing trait of visionary leaders is that they believe in a goal that benefits not only themselves, but others as well. It is such a vision that attracts the psychic energy of other people and makes them willing to work beyond the call of duty for the organization.” – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Photo Courtesy of Stock Photo Secrets