Visionaries and leaders are great only because the people on their team make them great! No one can go that road alone. This is what I have observed: great leaders, and more accurately, great visionaries understand their role of “drawing out the picture.” In other words, they are masters of drawing an image of where they are going.
However, the visionary must stop there. Once the picture is drawn, the visionary has to hand those on their team the box of crayons, and trust them to color in the picture! If the right people are on the team, they will be ever so careful to color in between the lines, careful of choice of color, and who has the steady hand to touch up the “small” areas. If all goes according to plan…A masterpiece will emerge!
5 key things need to be in place:
- A visionary who knows their job is to “draw a great picture” where all can see the lines clearly
- A team who knows how to handle the tools needed to finish the vision
- A passion to make the vision crystal clear and look amazing
- A willingness on the teams’ part to do whatever it takes to make it happen
- A leader who refuses to…Pick up the CRAYONS!
I hope this drawing helps you as much as it did me and still helps me clarify my role and what I need to do–and not to do! It’s so easy in the heat of the process and the stress of things to forget our role and want to pick up the crayons!
Don’t do it! Remember…YOU draw, let the team color. Play nice together, and you will be amazed at what you get done.
So which one are you….the drawer of the picture or the one who colors it in?
