9 Proven Approaches to Working with Visionaries

You know them. Perhaps, you’ve had the fortune to work with them—visionaries—those who imagine possibilities beyond the limits of conventional imagination. History gives us many examples of visionaries, yet there is little preparation to work with visionaries in organizational settings. Many value management for its engineering marvels and become accustomed to drills resulting in incremental improvements and attainment of performance goals. I love managers for all these achievements, but I adore visionaries for their encouragement to consider events and situations with novelty. Bob Metcalfe, the founder of the former 3COM, put it this way — visionaries transcend organizations, and Chief Executive Officers rule them.Working with visionaries is at once both formidable and exhilarating. As an Organization Development consultant, I’m naturally attracted to those with vision, as vision is essential in creating alternative and desired futures. Without vision, significant planned change always fails. Here are nine steps to work with those who drive us wild and move us forward.

1. Be amazed and appreciative: Vision is sorely lacking in many organizations. Sure, many are good at expressing dissatisfaction with the status quo and equally talented at designing steps and processes to guide new actions and behaviors. However, without vision, there is no inspiration. And, without inspiration, drudgery and monotony, among other factors, settle into organizational life. It doesn’t mean that vision requires the extraordinary - it can be the tiny spark that creates focus and contributes to greatness.
2. Discern the important from the trivial: Visionaries with whom I have worked possess an extraordinary capacity for work. At times, it seems that they never sleep. The result? An always-on response that includes ideas ranging from the silly to the stupendous. An advisor or coach to a visionary and those who work closely with them helps to sort the important from the trivial. An expression —lie down until the urge passes — provides guidance in these circumstances. Don’t always worry about responding to all of a visionary’s ideas.
3. Stay on point: Remember, as a fellow manager or team member, you have a role that may be at odds with the visionary. Stop and consider if your opposition is valid — do you need to continue operating in the same fashion? The key to staying on point is to listen well and to be an agile learner. If you frame your points as responses, ideas that build on vision, you’re more likely to find yourself in good standing with the visionary and to your accountabilities.
4. Prioritize: You can help the visionary through meaningful prioritization activities. It’s not enough to rank emergent and existing priorities and projects but to periodically prioritize these lists. Those who consider prioritization a one-time activity suffer fool’s consequences. Transformation requires regular assessment and check-in, raising the importance of Organization Development to visionary work.
5. Assist with Messaging: Be generous with your effort and dedication to helping others to understand the visionary. Help the visionary to be precise. Seek out differences and disagreements, and check for areas of alignment. These steps are likely to move good ideas forward with the necessary support.
6. Check for Fatigue: The output of ideas and new work from visionaries taxes even those with a great capacity for work. Beyond the individual, fatigue may settle into the visionary’s work group, resulting in the phenomenon of change fatigue. Those skilled in working with visionaries monitor the capability and capacity for organizational change. The visionary may be unaware of the unintended effects of their contribution, including scattered or misplaced corporate resources. If the visionary is an organizational leader, spin and swirl may become the norm, resulting in decreased productivity and increased confusion that detracts from goal achievement.
7. Scan for Impact: If you’re consistently returning to the same problems, look to a visionary. Visionaries may not be among those you regularly engage with; they may be at the margins. Time and time again, we have learned that the best ideas arise from unlikely sources, and it’s up to you and others to scan for the impact that needs to be created and assess the effect created as a result of a vision.
8. Experiment: Not all ideas need to be implemented — nor do they need to be discarded out of hand. When others say, we can’t do this or that because of (you fill in the blank), suggest alternatives. Perhaps an action can be piloted in one section of the organization or combined with other organizational activities. Resist the temptation to say no; give into possibility and imagination. Without a leap to the new order, we may never recognize the genius in front of us. Be experimental — don’t work with ideas as if carefully controlled experiments are routinely necessary.
9. Don’t Settle: Visionaries make us better, taking us to places we never imagined. Visionaries need to be cultivated and supported. When you meet a visionary, help to nurture their talent. Accept the challenge enthusiastically, and open yourself and others to increased skill, sagacity, and compassion for the challenges inherent in creating and sustaining organization development.

In working with visionaries, expect both chaos and order. Visionary imagination may reflect systemic processes of innovation. Have fun, and know that the experience with a visionary is priceless, resulting in gains that surpass expectations and contribute to positive development. If vision brings us into the future and fulfills our instinctive desires to be better, welcome the visionary warmly.