Vision and Success

"We are trying to win a championship" -Avery Johnson, NBA Coach of the Year, Dallas Mavericks.

While I personally tire of sports metaphors in business, sometimes the example of the impact of clear vision on organizational performance is just too good to pass up. Avery Johnson understands the importance of a clear vision in motivating an organization to peak performance. After taking over an organization with lots of talent and a history of underperforming, Johnson made a number of changes in the Maverick's approach to winning, but none more important than this one: He made winning a championship the explicit vision for the organization. Now as the Mavericks move into the second round of the playoffs after sweeping the first round for the first time in the 25 year history of the organization, the impact of that vision is becoming manifest.

In contrast, many leaders of organizations with similar levels of talent and histories of underperformance, fail to recognize the importance of a laser-like vision to the people in the organization. A focus on the successes of the past, or even a "we can do anything" approach to the future, fails to provide the kind of day to day motivation to people in the organization that they need to tolerate the frustrations of the grind of everyday work. Even more importantly, the absence of a clear vision for the organization leaves front line people with no guidance about how to make important operational decisions, and no reason to make them. As one writer put it, "If you're not going anywhere in particular, any road will take you there".

Underlying this implicit need for clarity of vision in organizations is a universal human need for meaning and purpose. We all need to feel that our efforts are part of something bigger than ourselves, that we matter, and that our work has some greater meaning than what we actually do. A clear vision provides that link from individual effort to a greater meaning and purpose. The most highly paid professional athletes are among the first to say "it's not about the money", and while these comments are often met with scepticism, if not cynicism, by many in the press and the public, I think those comments reflect a deeper truth-money matters, but not as much as purpose as a motivator to peak performance.

So my hat is off to "The General", Avery Johnson, for his recognition as coach of the year, and especially for his example as "the keeper of the vision".