Going from Vision to Reality

Hey,

I hope you are safe and well - and all is good.

It’s busy here at Lambert Towers as the kid’s school terms end. We have sports days; schools plays and end of year fairs. Summer in England is pretty good too, as each village near us to hold a summer fete - and my youngest is remarkably good at the Tombola. Keeps us in stock for a few weeks with cakes and wine, both of which are likely out of date.

After 4 years my current contract is coming to an end, so I will be looking for a new contract starting in September. Please let me know if you need workshops, training or short-term consultancy help.

Today let’s talk about how to move companies to new future states through change initiatives.

Also, what follows is a process that works for any dream or vision you have, no matter how big or small. It would work for starting a new company, or improving a department, or even in your own life.

It follows a simple process I always use and look for when working with teams or companies who are looking to move to something different or better.

You need Vision.
You need Insights.
You need Clarity.
You need Alignment.
You need Action.

For those new to the Meeting Notes newsletter, welcome, I’m Rob, Chief Visionary Officer at Cultivated Management. This newsletter is about mastering the art of communication and creativity - and cultivating a bright future of work.

You Need Vision, Insights, Clarity, Alignment, and Action.

Vision: Your Painted Picture of the Future

Every successful endeavour begins with a vision, or what I like to call a "Painted Picture."

Someone needs the creative foresight to imagine the business in the future—to see how things could be different. They need to vividly envision a compelling future: What does it look like? What does it do? What's it like to work there?

In my experience, many businesses lack this long-term vision, often looking no further than the next quarter's targets. It's no surprise, then, that change programs falter, improvements are elusive, and people feel a profound lack of hope and meaning in their jobs.

Without a clear, long-term vision for the company/team and its people, stagnation is inevitable.

Vision is absolutely essential. We admire visionaries, but they're often hard to find in the corporate world. And when they do exist, their ideas are frequently stifled by red tape, naysayers, and politics, causing them to give up.

But a vision confined to the mind is just the beginning; it needs to be articulated.

Write it, draw it, doodle it, sketch it, record an audio description, find visuals that reflect it, or even use AI to transcribe a video call. Whatever it takes, transform your vision from an internal thought into a tangible piece of content that can be tweaked, tested, mashed, and improved.

The vision must become something communicable.

As I always say, "The future belongs to those who can communicate about it."

But before you communicate, you need insights.

Insights: Testing the Dream

We need insights to gauge the feasibility, accuracy, possibility, and applicability of the vision. This means gathering feedback from trusted sources.

However, we must tread carefully here.

Too much analysis can kill the dream. Excessive criticality can blur the vision. And too much sensibility can morph a bold dream into a minor improvement. We need just enough analysis and insights to test the vision, not to extinguish it.

It goes without saying that any feedback should come from people you trust. Everyone has an opinion, so ensure you value the judgment and taste of those you consult.

Similarly, insights from data and evidence must be trustworthy, accurate, and truly insightful. It's surprisingly easy to be misled by statistics.

I've seen countless dreams shattered by seeking too much feedback. Remember, it's your dream, your vision. It's easy for others to dismantle it because they don't see or feel it in the same way you do.

So, guard your dream carefully and seek feedback only from those whose opinions you genuinely trust.

Keep the dream alive but test it. Incorporate data and analysis and tweak your vision. Just don't water it down into a minor improvement, a mild change, or something so futile it generates no momentum or energy. A good dream energises and inspires; ensure these elements remain intact.

Now, test your future vision against your current reality. I'd love to play professional basketball, but at my age, I'm not fit enough and ache too much. A dream of playing in the NBA wouldn't hold up, but a dream of forming a local dads' basketball team for weekly pick-up games? That's grounded in reality.

While many visionaries can move mountains to bring their vision to life, there must always be some grounding in the business's current reality. Some visions are created for a different company entirely—an impossible dream given the current circumstances. That said, the current reality can shift, often dramatically, when the business is orientated toward a bright future.

To move toward your vision or "Painted Picture," you must deeply understand your current reality. Be crystal clear about the blockers, the people, the structure, the obstacles, the opportunities, the market data, and more.

Understand it, test your vision against it, and then choose to ignore it if you wish, or refactor the dream without losing its inspirational essence.

Even if you choose to ignore the current reality, at least you'll be aware of it—and that's more than many leaders achieve.

Clarity: Helping Others See the Future

By now, you should have a vision - a "Painted Picture" of the future. Your next step is to bring clarity to it—to bring it to life and help others "see" it.

This isn't sending them facts and details to read; it's about helping them grasp the idea, the vision, and the image of the future in their minds. Before you share it, you need to bring clarity to it.

Stories are incredibly powerful for this.

"We're here. Here's the challenge. Here's the obstacle. Here's what the other side looks like. Here's how we'll grow. Here's how amazing it will be. Here's how hard it will be. Here's who's involved. Here's why we must take on this challenge and overcome it."

Stories reach where facts cannot. They are inherently human, fostering an emotional connection. If your vision is still intact and inspiring, your story should grab people and lead them into that emotional connection.

The story is, of course, incomplete.

The beginning and end are compelling, but the middle will be a little "fuzzy." This is where the organisation or team comes in; they must write the rest of the story, always holding the end in mind.

The hard work, the change, the effort, the people, the value, the customers—these are all part of the story waiting to be written.

Models also work.

Model it out, provide visuals, and offer examples. Bring your vision to life with words (ideally a story) and visuals. Without visuals, it's hard to cut through details.

Your visuals must represent the future, the business, and the role people play accurately. They can convey more than a thousand words and help make things concrete.

Models don't always have to be images; consider designs, blueprints, audio, video, and more.

Bring the vision to life with stories and visuals. These create an emotional hook, helping people "see" the vision, the future, and the anticipated path to get there.

But people also need plans and roadmaps.

This is where Treasure Maps come in. A Treasure Map is accurate and guides people, at a high level, through the waypoints needed for the journey.

It's not super detailed; there's some thought required to move from waypoint to waypoint.

There's a path, but it's not a step-by-step instruction manual. It has waypoints to navigate toward—enough detail to move forward without constraining people to a fixed series of steps (which would be incomplete and inaccurate anyway).

Many a great vision and story are ruined by over planning, by the need to detail everything in advance.

Those who over-plan aims to think of every contingency, to ponder all the things that could happen and mitigate for them in a plan before any action has taken place.

They seek certainty on an uncertain journey.

With good intentions, they try to reduce the risks involved in moving ahead by creating a detailed plan. The risk shifts from the people doing the work to the detailed planning process. Action doesn't happen until everything is considered.

That's slow and that's not how the story gets completed. We don’t quite know what will happen, but we have waypoints (consider these chapters) of the journey. We don’t always need super detailed plans to move.

Change happens through action toward waypoints, continuous learning, and constant readjustments. The Treasure Map provides waypoints; action uncovers the reality of moving toward those points.

A Treasure Map is needed, but detailed steps may not be.

For clarity and alignment, everyone must use the same Treasure Map. We move collectively to the first waypoint, then the next, constantly taking in insights and pivoting, always keeping the end vision in mind.

When I see change programs with every single step identified and deeply detailed plans, I know they will fail.

Change rarely happens according to a detailed step-by-step plan. It happens through everyday interactions and movement, as people move to the first waypoint, assess their progress, and pivot as needed. Then onto the next waypoint.

Alignment: Winning Hearts and Minds

It's great to have a vision, a Treasure Map, and compelling visuals. Now, we need to bring the entire organisation together to ensure alignment.

This is achieved through effective communication. Think of this step as internal PR. You're aiming to win the hearts and minds of the organisation—the people who will do the hard work to overcome obstacles and improve the business or achieve the vision.

Communication is key here.

Use the story, the visuals, and the Treasure Map (with waypoints) to communicate effectively, through various mediums and in diverse ways.

Keep repeating the vision and the Treasure Map in different formats. Keep the vision and future top of mind for everyone.

Talk about it often and let the entire system below the leadership team morph to attain it.

When people are aligned, the business will adapt to meet the goals and aims of the Treasure Map and Vision. It might help to set short term goals too. Something everyone can align around at a micro level that leads to the waypoints.

When everyone is aligned and moving in the same direction, you'll have momentum that you should capitalise on.

Action: Driving Towards the Future

With clarity and alignment established, it's time for action. Fast, solid, driven action toward the first waypoint, overcoming problems and moving toward important goals.

As you progress through waypoints and goals, there's a constant need to learn and pivot.

"How can we get better?" - This is a wonderful question to ask as you move forward.

Learning is essential on your journey through the waypoints. It’s essential to improve, optimise, and get better. Learn what works and what doesn't. Learn who is on board and who isn't. Learn from data, insights, measures, and metrics.

Crucially, learn from the people in the mix:

How are they feeling? What problems are they encountering? What would enrich their working lives? All of these provide valuable insights for improvement and learning.

Push decision-making down to those directly tackling the problems. Give them support and encourage them to take on challenges and make improvements.

Encourage autonomy and the freedom to do the right thing—after all, people know the vision, they know the plan, they are clear about the waypoint they’re moving towards, and they are aligned. Let them find ways forward that don't require constant leadership intervention or bureaucratic governance.

Action is always most energetic at the beginning of any change program, so capitalise on that enthusiasm by tackling the big challenges and front-loading the work.

Make the first waypoint on the Treasure Map a truly valuable outcome. Solve a major problem, release a significant upgrade—something ambitious that gives people confidence in the journey.

When the grind sets in, be kind to people, support them, engage with them, listen to them, encourage them, and work alongside them. Always bring everything back to the vision and "Painted Picture." Always tackle problems and solve them in their entirety, never passing the burden to others.

This is how you bring about change.

You need the vision—someone to see in their mind how things could be. They need to articulate it, visualize it, and play with it.

Trusted insights and feedback help refine it, and data can inform. Avoid killing ambition with excessive rationalisation; a fine line exists between wild ambition and careful manoeuvring.

Bring clarity to the vision through visuals, Treasure Maps (with waypoints), doodles, sketches, stories, and models. Help people grasp the main idea.

Share it, galvanize people around it, and foster alignment.

Then, move into action—driven, fun, ambitious, and enjoyable action to overcome problems and unleash agility toward a bright future.

You can apply these principles in your own life, in small projects, in a small department, a large department, or an entire company.

You need Vision.
You need Insights.
You need Clarity.
You need Alignment.
You need Action.

Until next time. Take care of yourselves.

Rob..

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