That experience taught me an important lesson about why communicating vision matters. I watched firsthand as an idea for a desired future state became something people began to think about and act on. We had created a vision from scratch and used Golden Threads to translate it into changes in human behavior.

We see versions of this idea in national advertising campaigns all the time. The same principles can be applied to organizational leadership. It’s about intentionally and deliberately designing communication around the vision.

Communicating Vision in Practice

I think it’s important to note that communicating vision has two aspects. The first is formal and is what most of us think of when we talk about organizational mission, vision, or purpose statements. These ideas are communicated through organizational guidance, emails, speeches, meetings, and other forms of communication.

The second is less formal and occurs whenever someone, whether in a formal leadership position or simply demonstrating leadership through action, provides purpose, motivation, and direction toward a desired future state. I think this distinction is important because it clarifies the difference between leadership and management.

Returning to the culture of safety initiative, management handled the tasks required to post the messages. Leadership determined what we were trying to accomplish through those messages, what they should communicate, how often they should change, and where they should be seen.

Said another way, management can direct people toward a known task. Leadership requires the ability to help people see and move toward a future that does not yet exist.

I mention this because communicating vision isn’t limited to formal vision statements or major organizational initiatives. To a certain extent, much of leadership involves helping others see a future state and encouraging them to move toward it. To that point, the line between leadership and management isn’t always clear, and in practice, they often do both. The distinction I find useful is that management tends to focus on completing known tasks, while leadership often involves helping people understand and move toward a future state.

Golden Threads In Practice

One way to think of this is through the lens of Sales and Marketing Meet Leadership: Message Saturation, Relevance, Repetition, Placement, and Audience Attention. Leadership, or more to the point, communicating a vision, isn’t simply sending an email, making a speech, hosting a town hall, or posting a copy of the Vision Statement on the breakroom wall. Don’t get me wrong. Those are important. However, they aren’t a one-and-done solution for communicating a message.

When we created the culture of safety in our organization, we didn’t announce a campaign to do so. We simply began weaving safety into the organization’s everyday communication.

Safety appeared in formal leadership communications. We replaced the standard reading material in waiting areas with safety-related magazines and information. Rotating television displays carried safety messages, and we regularly refreshed them to reflect seasonal risks and changing conditions. These were just a few of the ways we reinforced the idea.

The messages were intentionally subtle. We weren’t trying to make people feel as though they were being subjected to another organizational campaign. We simply wanted people to think about safety in a natural, organic way, whether they were at home or work.

In many ways, we were applying principles commonly associated with sales, marketing, and advertising to organizational leadership. A successful advertising campaign rarely depends on a customer seeing one message at one time. It reinforces an idea across multiple channels until that idea becomes familiar. We were doing something similar with our vision for a safer organization.

I refer to this approach as using Golden Threads. A Golden Thread does not require repeating the same words. It requires reinforcing the same idea. Let’s consider this from a slightly different perspective: if an idea was important enough to make it into the vision or mission statement, why shouldn’t it be reinforced through other forms of communication?

When communicating strategic messaging, leaders should thoughtfully design routine organizational communication so that important ideas are consistently, appropriately, and authentically reinforced.

Personal and Professional Reflection

In my experience, the real value of a shared vision becomes clear when change is required. Organizations naturally develop inertia around existing priorities, processes, and ways of working. A well-understood vision can create the momentum needed to overcome that inertia and move people toward a shared future state. A shared vision enables teams to brainstorm and develop new, creative ways of working toward that vision.

Depending on the organization’s size and the vision’s scope, several informational meetings may be needed to align key stakeholders around a common vision. Don’t be surprised if, during the initial stakeholder meetings, you learn they have their own vision. For what it’s worth, this is all part of the process. Be objective and open-minded when meeting with key stakeholders; they may provide valuable insights. Ideally, with compromise, both sides agree on a shared vision. This is an important aspect of creating a shared vision, primarily because although words have definitions, they can mean slightly different things to different people. The point here is that communicating vision also requires listening. People may interpret the vision differently than you intended, identify problems you haven’t considered, or suggest better ways of reaching the desired future state. This is another reason communication should be measured at the receiver rather than the sender. If you’re not listening to the people receiving the message, you may never know whether the vision they heard is the vision you intended to communicate. For example, assume a person is properly trained but left on their own, without the ability to call and ask for guidance. Do they understand the organization’s vision, mission, purpose, and intent well enough to make a reasonable decision that moves the organization in the right direction?

Guiding statements, Vision, Mission, or Purpose come together in a series of steps guided by the following principles: 1) Inspiring, 2) Future-oriented, 3) Ambitious, 4) Aligned with the core values and principles, and 5) Timeless.

• Don’t overthink it. Again, the words aren’t as important as the communication strategy.
• Don’t make it too grandiose or too narrowly focused. Think Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
• Start with one or two people drafting the initial vision, emphasizing that it’s a draft. Too many or too few people drafting the initial vision will leave you with something that may not make it to the finish line.
• Allow a small group to review and critique the proposed vision statement. This can be a critical step; too many people creating a shared vision can become messy and uncontrollable. If there aren’t enough people, you risk creating an echo chamber where the vision statement won’t be able to withstand critiques or skeptics.
• Get approval from the decision-makers.
• Share the vision statement with everyone involved. It’s during this last step that the magic begins to take shape. A good vision statement motivates people to ask how they can help and when they can start, especially if they perceive the vision statement’s results as benefiting them.
• Set your vision statement into motion by incorporating the Golden Threads approach to getting your messaging out to key people.
• Lastly, communication should be measured at the receiver, not the sender. A vision can create momentum, but only if people find the future it describes understandable, credible, and relevant enough to move toward. Don’t be afraid to take a step back, reiterate, and try it again.

Leadership Actions Must Reinforce the Vision

Golden Threads aren’t limited to words. Leadership actions and decisions must be in alignment with their published guidance. If leaders repeatedly talk about one priority but reward or tolerate behavior that supports another, people will quickly learn which message actually matters. A vision is strongest when organizational communication and leadership behavior reinforce the same idea.

RuReady Framework Connection

This article supports LS16 Communicating Vision, a Mastery-level Skills element within the Leadership Domain of the RuReady Adult Readiness Framework. It connects closely with LK12 Organizational Mission, Vision, and Purpose, which explores how organizations establish shared direction, and LS18 Policy Design and Management, where organizational intent begins to influence formal guidance and action.

Explore the complete series:
Skill (US03.01): Time and Task Management Workflow
Skill (US03.02): Time and Task Management Workflow: The What
Skill (US03.03): Time and Task Management Workflow: The Self
Skill (US03.04): Time and Task Management Workflow: The When
Skill (US03.05): Time and Task Management Workflow: Only Do What Only You Can Do

If you enjoyed this article, explore the broader RuReady Adult Readiness Framework:

Preface: A Field Manual for Adult Life
Chapter 1: Why Do We Do What We Do?
Chapter 2: An Exploration of the RuReady Framework
Chapter 3: Life Skills for the Personal Domain
Chapter 4: Career Skills for the Professional Domain
Chapter 5: Leadership Skills for Every Level

Before moving on, feel free to use the checklist below to assess your readiness level.