Summary of Making Vision Stick-Andy Stanley

Summary of Making Vision Stick-Andy Stanley

One of the greatest challenges of leadership is making vision stick. In this book Andy Stanley gives sound advice on how to make your vision stick. Over time leaders can sometimes lose sight of the vision and get side tracked by other irrelevant issues. Success lures you into taking your hands off the wheel. Failure causes you to overcorrect. Both success and failure can lead to success.

Andy states five things that you can do to make your vision stick:

1.       State the vision simply

If your vision is going to stick in people’s minds, it must be memorable. People don’t remember or embrace paragraphs. They remember and embrace sentences. For your vision to stick you may need to clarify or simplify it. As you evaluate your vision statement you need to keep in mind that it is better to have a vision statement that is incomplete and memorable than to have one that is complete and forgettable. The bottom line is that if you want your vision to stick it needs to be easy to communicate.

2.       Cast the vision convincingly

To cast a convincing vision you have to define the problem that your vision addresses. Every vision is a solution to a problem.

3.       Repeat the vision regularly

In the third step Andy says it’s important that you repeat your vision regularly. Casting your vision once is not enough to make it stick. He says this is not a difficult task but it won’t happen if the leader doesn’t take action.

4.       Celebrate the vision systematically

The fourth step teaches us that we need to take a pause so that you can celebrate the wins along the way. Celebrating the wins does more to clarify the vision than anything else. Some leaders consider celebrations as a waste of time. But when you celebrate the right things, you are using the most effective form of vision casting says Andy Stanley.

5.       Embrace the vision personally

The final step in the process requires you to embody the vision of your organisation. When you live the vision you establish credibility as a leader. If you embody the vision people come to believe that your job is more than just a job to you. We need to know that there are those that just fabricate a vision from the beginning. They talk the talk publicly, but privately they are operating entirely from a different set of values. If you say you believe in something, live it out. And live it in a way that the people around you can see it. That’s not arrogant. It’s liberating.

Maintaining your vision is difficult, both organisationally and personally. God has called you to be what he wants you to be. Making your vision stick requires bold leadership. Seeing a vision become a reality requires more than a single burst of energy or creativity. It requires daily attention. Embrace the vision and do whatever it takes to make your vision stick.