Visualizing success is about far more than positive thinking.
By visualizing the accomplishment, even those far in the distance, leaders turn abstract and wishful goals into expectations and intentions.
By making the abstract success more concrete, team members gain greater clarity as to what they need to do so that the desired outcome is then realized.
Not only does visualization make the accomplishment feel more attainable, but it also primes the brain to recognize the steps and actions required to get there.
And by clarifying what success looks like, team members build emotional commitment to the sacrifices tied to accomplishment.
The more vivid the visual, the more engaged people become. Good leaders make the pathway to success vividly clear.
Through storyboarding, roadmaps, and vision boards, they illustrate through pictures, images, sketches, and written panels the step-by-step actions needed to achieve the goal.
In some cases, leaders ask team members to role-play or enact the achievement to create some of the feelings associated with such a great accomplishment. This can boost confidence and emphasize how hard everyone needs to work to realize the dream.
Practicing celebration rituals is another way to make the abstract more concrete. In the year his team won the trophy, legendary college basketball coach Jim Valvano had his team practice cutting down the nets as if they had just won the national championship.
He insisted they do this in early team practices so they could visualize the pride and satisfaction of what winning would feel like. This produced a level of high commitment to the process it would take to realize that vision. And they did.
Visualizing successful completion highlights the significance and meaning of success. It’s never too early to start the process of imagining what the accomplishment will be like and why it is worth attaining.
That’s why visualizing accomplishments the team is far from attaining is vitally important. It gives people the reason for their sacrifice.
In addition to clarifying the reason why, the visualization creates the energy, confidence, and motivation required for the long slog toward the goal.
If the goal is big and meaty, visualizing the accomplishment will help align the team and inspire engagement and action. Seeing things before they happen can be self-fulfilling. We move toward the images in our heads.
Good leaders put those images there.
