Today, I want to talk to you about something we call Organizational Whiplash. And I’m really talking to Visionaries.
Visionaries, you guys are great. We couldn’t do the things that we do without the special gifts you have. You’re idea machines, great leaders, you can see the future. But along with those great gifts come some challenges that we need to be aware of and work on. One of those things is Organizational Whiplash.
Here’s what happens with Organizational Whiplash. The organization is so tuned into you and your ideas that when you turn your head in one direction, the whole organization turns with you. Being a good Visionary, soon another idea will come along and you’ll turn your head in a completely different direction. Guess what? The organization turns their head in the same direction. Then you turn your head again and the organization is turning theirs from side to side trying to keep up with you. They can’t keep up.
Visionaries tend to be all in or all out on something, so it can change back and forth quite a bit. It’s almost like somebody taking a light switch and rapidly turning it off and on. It just has a very frustrating effect on the folks in the organization and leads to lack of organizational consistency.
My request for you today is to allow the Integrator to be the buffer for the organization. Allow them to dampen the effects of this natural tendency that you have – which is actually related to your own gifts. You’re a big idea machine who sees the future and a great leader. Allow that to work for you.
There’s three key points I want you to walk away with today:
- You’re an idea machine.
- As my good friend Jason Williford says, the Visionary’s greatest threat to their current idea is their next great idea.
- Be aware and be patient (I recognize the irony in asking you Visionaries to be patient).
Come see us on RocketFuelNow.com. Take the Visionary and Integrator assessments. See where you’re great. See where you could use some help. We’ve been having some great discussions with other Visionaries & Integrators over on LinkedIn and Facebook. Regardless of where you are in your process, I encourage you to join the conversation! And finally, read Rocket Fuel. If you’ve already read Rocket Fuel, and you liked it, we’d love to see a review from you on Amazon. We’d really love to hear what you think.
Until next time, Go ROCKET!
Cheers,
Mark
