Create a “secret” Vision
Description:
Learn about the power of “secret” visions. Odds are they will never come to fruition; however, they will contribute to results that far exceed your expectations.
Content:
Whenever I have been given an assignment, the first thing I do is spend a few minutes creating a secret vision. The vision is very personal and indeed secret. I have never, until this moment, even divulged the concept of secret visions to anyone, let alone discussed the specifics of my personal visions.
The reason for secrecy is that they are always far-fetched and the odds of them ever coming true are very remote. If one ever did come true, I would be flabbergasted. They are so far fetched that if I were to share them with anyone, that person might think I was crazy.
A few years ago, I was asked to lead the day-to-day activities in closing a manufacturing plant. Fortunately, I had closed a few plants prior to this assignment and my prior experience was invaluable to my new assignment. With no prior experience, I would have encountered a very rocky road. Closing a plant is not an easy task.
You usually get the assignment after the plant closing announcement has been made. Understandably, prior to the announcement, all planning has to be done in secret by only a few executives who probably never managed a plant closing. Unfortunately, some of their assumptions are nowhere near correct and their timetable is usually unrealistic. The early stages of this plant closing were no different. For instance, I quickly discovered that the actual number of tools to be transferred was almost double that of the executives’ estimate. By the time I got the project, the executives had carved the timetable in granite and my performance would be measured against an unrealistic timetable.
Plants close for a variety of reasons. In this case a major customer had moved to an off-shore manufacturer. As a result, the plant’s volume was less than that needed to break-even and the plant was running inefficiently. The plan was to transfer the remaining business to our other plants, allowing us to shut down the plant that was losing money.
In order to transfer business to other plants, it is necessary to build adequate inventories of each part to allow shipment of parts to customers while tools and equipment transfer to the receiving plant. This almost always requires that the closing plant improve its operating efficiencies in order to build adequate inventories of the parts it makes.
It gets even more challenging. The employees know they could be unemployed in a few months and are actively looking for employment elsewhere. It always seems the best employees get offers quickly and, if you don’t have a good plan which includes ample rewards, you will find yourself having to increase production with a dwindling work force of the more marginal people. These people are concerned that they haven’t found another job yet and are angry because of what’s happening. They think you are crazy to think that they are going to increase efficiencies and production all of a sudden. Keep in mind that I’m talking about both the rank and file as well as the salaried staff.
To make matters even worse you know that, at some point in time, you will have to bring in people from the receiving plant to be trained on the equipment by the very people who will be losing their jobs.
Add to the mix a hostile union and some belligerent stewards and you have the recipe for a cake that could explode at any time during the process.
Immediately my attention turned to creating a secret vision. There was plenty of time to develop the public vision. The latter would center around closing the plant successfully in the required time frame. Success would include retaining all of our current customers by making the plant closure invisible to their operations. It also would include caring about and tending to the welfare and success of every employee impacted by the closing.
But first, I needed a secret vision. It took only a few minutes to invent. I knew that other business segments of the corporation were also closing plants. My vision was that my plant closing project would go far more smoothly and far more successfully than the others being tackled. So much so that, when all were completed, the CEO would call me, ask me how I did it, and ask me to make a presentation at the next meeting of his staff.
When I created the secret vision I knew it’s odds of coming true were probably less than one in a million. When the project had outstanding results and I didn’t get that phone call, I knew I had pegged the odds pretty accurately. This might beg the question, “Why bother having a secret vision?”
The reason is simple. If you believe there is one chance in a million that it will come true, it will give you the motivation and the inspiration to push beyond your limits. It will provide an additional perspective to help with decision making. It will enhance the odds of success for your project.
Upon creating the vision, you turn to clarifying your objectives and your plan. With the vision you ask, “What must I do to make the vision come true? What must happen in terms of final results?” Without the vision, the answer might be to finish the project on time. With the vision, the answer is that the project must be completed ahead of schedule. For the vision to eventually happen you must hit the ball out of the park. And your goals will be “stretch” goals.
The plan you put together for the stretch goals will be ambitious, challenging, and hard to achieve. This is the plan you’re not going to share with anyone else because it’s based on your secret vision and objectives. Before launching the project, you will develop a more realistic plan to meet the objectives defined by management. In effect you will have two plans – one for public consumption and one based on stretch goals. You will manage the project to meet the stretch goals.
On a few occasions I have become so excited about the stretch goals that I have shared them with my management. In all cases that has been a mistake. Management believes the stretch goals can be made and pretty soon they become the expectation. If you don’t make the revised, challenging expectation you can get a poor grade even though you achieved the original objectives. Don’t tell your manager that you’re swinging for the fences. Just go ahead and hit the home run.
Let’s return to the secret vision. A vision is something you see. I always enjoy fantasizing about it. Remember that this vision was being called to headquarters to share with the senior staff the details of how I had achieved such outstanding results. It was always fun and certainly healthy to take a break each day and embellish the secret fantasy. I would picture who was invited to the meeting. I would try to determine just what I would tell them. I would picture what clothes I would wear. As the project progressed I had developed a pretty sharp vision in full Technicolor™.
Finally, I used my secret vision as a factor in decision-making. When faced with making a decision I would evaluate all the factors. Additionally, I would ask myself if the way I was leaning in making the decision would help or hinder my secret vision from coming true.
The plant closed two days ahead of schedule. More importantly, most people left in good spirits, knowing their futures were bright and feeling as if they had been treated fairly. Many had been able to find another job. Many others were heading to extended unemployment benefits and cash grants so that they could get training and education in other fields. Many thanked me personally for caring about them and respecting them over the three month period. I was extremely gratified. As time had progressed and I had embellished my secret vision I had developed another goal. It was that when the project was over, the people would go out of their way to thank me for a job well-done. That part of the vision came true.
I never got that call to brief the senior management staff. But that didn’t matter because the vision of that call helped me to put together and execute a great plan. It helped me to exceed the expectations of my management.
The next time you get an assignment put together a little far-fetched secret vision and let it help you swing for the fences.
* * * *
As I started writing this book I actually had two separate secret visions. Oh, I’m sorry that I mentioned that because I can’t share either vision with you.
From the book “IT AIN’T OKAY TO FAIL”
By Brian Strachan
Visit www.brianstrachan.com for more information about “IT AIN’T OKAY TO FAIL”
Author: Brian Strachan
About Author:
During the past forty-four years, Brian Strachan worked for the Navy Department, General Electric, AMF and Leggett & Platt. For almost four decades he has managed organizations in engineering, sales, marketing, and manufacturing. His leadership experience has ranged from leading a unit of six engineers to general management of four different businesses.
He is retired from GE and is currently continuing his career as Corporate Director of Program Management for the Leggett and Platt Aluminum Group in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
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