I coined a term around my hardest-won lesson from the year – vision lock. It was hard won because it came after a painful three week reset on an initiative. The main reason for that reset was a lack of alignment on the vision for where we were headed.
It was bouncing around in my/our heads. I just hadn’t the taken the time to write it down and bring people along. This causes churn when the stakes are/feel high. The churn that this caused felt extra painful because it could have been easily avoided.
Vision lock, to me, is 3 things –
(1) Write out the vision for the project you are working on. This is typically done with the leadership on the project.
(2) Take the time to align this vision your most important stakeholders. These stakeholders are typically the “investors” in your project. This group varies depending on the importance of the project – it may be your executive team for one and your business unit leadership team for another.
(3) Ensure every member of the working team can articulate this aligned vision.
The goal isn’t to have a vision that is written on a stone tablet. Plans evolve. But it is important there is a documented starting point for that evolution. Vision lock helps us get there.
Since this experience, I’ve changed how our team tracks key projects. We used to only track a project’s execution status on a weekly basis. Now we also review the “vision lock” status. It’s been very helpful.
I typically revisit my favorite book – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – every holiday season. As I thought about the book, I realized that “vision lock” is just an extension of chapter 2 – “Begin with the end in mind.”
I chuckled. 13 years later, I’m glad I’m finally onto practicing Chapter 2.
