Leadership Paradoxes (1) – The vision paradox

Taking over the leadership of organizations or institutions, one is expected to fulfil the mandate and aspirations of a whole set of stake holders. There will be the board and or the governance structures who will see things from one “set of glasses”. There will the team who is with you that will have totally different expectation. And the staff whose aspirations and desires will be from yet another perspective.

Leadership is primarily is about vision and influence. So when one starts off in the role, the immediate thing to work towards is to develop a vision for the role and tenure one has been inducted for. There might be an institutional or organizational vision, which provides an overall directional frame work, but developing a time bound personal vision for the role and tenure is key if one wants to lead well.

The challenge will be – how to develop this vision and what will guide this vision. Generally organizational visons are too “nebulous and airy fairy” and institutional visions or expectations are “too pragmatic and addressing the urgent and immediate”. It is in this context that one needs to develop a vision, which can be used to influence and motivate the people around you to move ahead.

Such visions will need to have a few characteristics. One – it has to be one which stretches the imagination beyond the routine. It has to be something which pushes one beyond daily chores – something which either contributes to the big picture of building the “Nation” or “Community” we are part of and “Kingdom” which we are called into. Nation/Community building and Kingdom facilitation or similar frame works, will definitely push one to think over and above the institutional or program vision.

But such vision will become realistic only if one is able to consistently and clearly communicate the same to all stake holders. Which means that, there has to be a way by which this vision is made “crystal clear” and “logical” to the team and staff who may have other perceptions and aspirations through a discipline of communication. Which also means that, both the visionaries and pragmatics have to understand the vision the same way and to start pulling together!

Though this vision might be for helping you in your role, generally such visions are beyond your own tenure and time lines! To see visions which God gives you, as beyond your own time lines and to see yourself as a link in the chain of an ongoing transformational movement will give you perseverance and tenacity when the rubber meets the road.

The challenge will be – when the rubber meets the daily road of running institutions and programs. The salaries one has to pay at the end of the month, the daily numbers which contribute to the financial and programmatic sustainability, the irritating humans who are part of your team, the conflicts which one would like to run away from, and such many other challenges come up on a daily basis, and in the midst of all these, how do one lead?

If one has to lead in the midst of such inevitable challenges, there has to a different set of planning, monitoring and evaluation frame works. Frame works which incorporate the impact into ones evaluation frame work, outcomes into your monitoring frameworks, and outputs which will contribute to outcomes and impacts! At the same time there has to be – the faith element in our planning frameworks, people building in our facilitation frame works, partnerships in our implementation frame works.

But to be such a leader, one needs to be reflective, relational and responsible. Reflective in thinking and planning, relational in facilitating momentum and generating support, and responsible in holding on to the mandate and the vision. Not an easy task, but possible by the Grace which Abounds!