Communicating Your Vision

A vision has to be shared in order to do what it is meant to do: inspire, clarify, and focus the work of your organization. One part of your job as a leader is to create commitment to your organization’s vision. In order to do this, you have to communicate the vision effectively. In this guidebook we suggest many ways to communicate a vision. We also discuss how to deal with a resistant audience and what to do in the event that you yourself are resistant. You’ll learn how to communicate a vision to others in ways that will help them understand it, remember it, and then go on to share it themselves.

This series of guidebooks draws on the practical knowledge that the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) has generated, since its inception in 1970, through its research and educational activity conducted in partnership with hundreds of thousands of managers and executives. Much of this knowledge is shared-in a way that is distinct from the typical university department, professional association, or consultancy. CCL is not simply a collection of individual experts, although the individual credentials of its staff are impressive; rather it is a community, with its members holding certain principles in common and working together to understand and generate practical responses to today's leadership and organizational challenges.
The purpose of the series is to provide managers with specific advice on how to complete a developmental task or solve a leadership challenge. In doing that, the series carries out CCL's mission to advance the understanding, practice, and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide.

Talula Cartwright is a senior faculty member at CCL’s Greensboro campus. She is a trainer in several open-enrollment programs, and designs and delivers custom programs for clients in the corporate, private, and nonprofit sectors. A certified feedback specialist and executive coach, Talula holds an Ed.D. in higher education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

David Baldwin is a former CCL faculty member. He was based at the San Diego campus, where he facilitated open-enrollment programs and managed custom programs, research projects, and blended learning initiatives. David holds a B.A. in speech communication from San Diego State University and an M.S. in organizational communication studies from Illinois State University.