Six keys to keys to build vision - point three

3. Associate with those who live vision

The key starting point on our path to being an effective visionary, is networking with those who live vision. There is nothing more draining than meeting with people time and again without seeing tangible evidence of established vision.

Years ago I was part of an organization that continually enthused its people with great ideas of a preferable future. People left homes and countries and were drawn to the organization because of what they had heard. Years later, people left disillusioned and frustrated at the lack of practical evidence that the vision was coming to pass.

? Here is an A-Z of the key aspects of building a team of visionaries.

a) Always have milestones to celebrate the successes publicly

b) Ensure that the big picture is surrounded with little ones

c) Strategically align all activities in measurable quantities

d) Make it plain for all to understand

e) Have the journey outlined before your team and in a prominent place for all to see

f) Start with the end in view but focus on the first stages

g) Communicate at the levels people will understand

h) Have monthly progress reports with key leaders and people

i) Don't make excuses for none achievement, finding fault never achieves much

j) Associate with visionaries who have achieved significantly and share your vision

k) Visit visionaries who are willing to critique your strategies

l) Don't over extend your people or resources too soon

m) Don't fight on more than one flank at a time (focus on your strategies)

n) Make momentum your friend, and build a culture where momentum is king

o) When adding a new opportunity to the vision, bring closure to an ineffective area

p) Prioritize your resources

q) Never lose sight of your greatest resource "people". Reward faithfulness

r) Train others to go beyond your limits.

s) Share your leadership but NEVER give it away. Leadership is always the solution

t) Be flexible and willing

u) Don't build on traditional successes. What worked last year may not work this

v) Embrace change and make it your partner

w) Ensure individuals have the same motive as yourself

x) Define the culture you wish to develop within your vision and teach it from the start

y) Have a frequent re-focus day, where clarity, objectives and strategies are visited

z) Take time out to celebrate your successes, record such and be thankful you're alive

"The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail." -Napoleon Hill

"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure." -George E. Woodberry

? Impartation is Caught (association)

The word impartation has significant meaning. We would clarify such a term by using terms such as, "I got it from my years in Europe" or "I have been around you so long I am even thinking like you."

Impartation is catching something of a third dimension as a result of being exposed to a person, environment or organization. Defining the culture you ant your people to be imparted with, is the key responsibility of the visionary leader. A success culture does not eventuate where there is fear culture operating. Ideas come from a culture of creativity and acceptance towards failure or none achievement.

A friend of mine is a professional singer and musician. On his latest CD there were several tacks that were incredible. I rang him from the other-side of the world to compliment him on his new album. I remember saying to him "there is not one bad track on that album." His reply was, "Yeah, but I wrote some real bad stuff in the process that never got on the album". That is a culture that tolerates the less than perfect in order to move forward. Many people would stop short of their best because their current capacity is less than perfect. We have to create a culture of openness, that allows us to accept the now but move towards the preferable future.

? Revelation is Sought (prayer, thinking, discussion)

The culture we create is the environment that limits or extends us. We all need inspiration on our lives journey and insight into what can be is the greatest form of such. Revelation can be described as "a light going on inside", a flash of genius", "a sense of awareness without effort" "it just made sense".

We can minimize the power of revelation by our structures of belief or unbelief. In this supposed enlightened world that we live in, I am still amazed that individuals can think that they have all the answers. If we had all the answers why do we have all the problems? It has been said, "there is no invention, only discovery". Of course this is true, but discovery comes in several ways.

a) Through systematic effort

b) Through the capitalization of another's work or idea

c) Through revelation of what could be

We have created a culture that seeks to make the human mind redundant. Franchises, branding, copyright and profit, all seek to restrict further development of an idea. Of course plagiarism is endemic now with the advent of the Internet. I released an E-book from my site four months ago with an embedded tracking code that notifies me when the article is opened and changed. To-date it has been changed over one thousand times, and appears under a different title for sale bundled with other E-books on several sites.

What is my point? Most people today struggle to use their intellect or creativity, as it is easier to take someone else's idea and adapt. The problem with this type of culture, is it follows the masses and the independence that is found in revelation and genius is lost on following the bulk ideas generated by the crowd.

I recently went into a world wide fast-food chain for lunch. The attendant asked me if I wanted fries with my order and then realized my order was fries!

The graduate with a Science degree asks, "Why does it work?" The graduate with an Engineering degree asks, "How does it work?" The graduate with an Accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?" The graduate with a Liberal Arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?" -anon

Prayer is a means of opening your mind to a greater realm of possibilities. "Great minds do not think alike" Great minds think! Prayer is focusing ones attention on the larger picture. It takes self and our pre-occupations out of the picture and replaces our affections on the possibilities of what can be.

The word meditation has the same root meaning as the word ruminates. Cows have four stomachs, and rumination is the process of breaking down the cud, which they are digesting. After a period of digestion, the food is regurgitated from one stomach and into another. The purpose of this is to break down the potentially dangerous acids and provide the animal with the maximum benefit from their food.

Were we to spend a little more time breaking down our thoughts, ideas and revelations we would indeed have great minds and clearer vision.

"I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time." - Charles Dickens "Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" -Mark Twain The average mind is average by its acceptance of limitations. The above average mind is open to new ways of thinking. Most people have one good idea in a lifetime from which they live. Above average minds are open to the possibilities of a better one. It has been said that the hardest thing to open is a closed mind. ? Education is a great investment (read, listen, train and be trained)

"Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms." -Kahlil Gibran, "The Philosophy of Logic"

"Know then thyself, presume not God to scan, the proper study of mankind is man."

-Alexander Pope, "An Essay on Man"

"The unexamined life is not worth living." ?Socrates

"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life." -Chinese Proverb

Education is not the panacea of life, but it is a great basis of preparation. I have met numerous individuals with a far better education than myself, but I have discovered one thing in the process. Education prepares us for life but it never initiates it. The unemployment list assures us of that. I like the lines Harrison Ford shares in the film Mosquito Coast. "I dropped out of Harvard to get an education".

Understanding a topic does not qualify us to act. I have many qualifications that have informed me but have not provided me with a living. The reason for this is inaction.

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common

than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." -Calvin Coolidge

"The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet." ?Aristotle

"Education is the movement from darkness to light." -Allan Bloom

"The foundation of every state is the education of its youth." -Diogenes

"The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth." -John Fitzgerald Kennedy

"Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource." -John Fitzgerald Kennedy

"All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education." -Sir Walter Scott

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." -Mark Twain

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." -William Butler Yeats

Setting a mind to wonder is the greatest satisfaction I receive. I have always loved the realm of training and development as it provides an opportunity for personal development. Once we become blinkered towards pending possibilities, we cease to dream. Education is often provided in a one size fits all. This creates an attitude of success and failure. Whilst I embrace the philosophy of winners and losers, I do not view people as winners or losers.

Achievement can only ever be truly defined by our-self. We can win gold and yet still feel we are a loser. We can place last in the race and yet be content with our best. Winning is not truly defined by the medal around our neck but by the perception we view success.

There is little excuse for ignorance today. Information is freely available in a way that has never been known in the history of the world. One can be educated in your own home without ever leaving your comfy chair. One breach still remains between education and initiative. Oneself.

"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't." -Anatole France

Tony Mckeown is director of Coaching 4 life NZ and regularly travels the world speaking and motivating groups and conferences. His passion and personal mission statement in Life is "To bring a message of hope to a people of destiny". Tony has authored many "How To" manuals along with regular weekly and monthly newsletters.

His services and free motivational downloads are available from his resource site http://www.coaching4life.net.nz