Why Entrepreneurs Need to Communicate Vision, Not Just Tasks

Research & Sources / Communication & Influence

An old story tells of three stonemasons. A traveller asks what they are doing. The first says: “I am cutting stone.” The second: “I am earning a living.” The third looks up and says: “I am building a cathedral.” All three do the same work. Only one knows what it is for. Teams are the same. People who see the cathedral work differently from people who only see stones.

The task trap

Busy entrepreneurs communicate mostly in tasks. Call this client. Fix this bug. Send this offer by Friday. Tasks are necessary. But a team that only ever hears tasks has no way to make good decisions on its own. When something unexpected happens, they wait for the next instruction, because they do not know what the work is really for.

Vision is not a slogan

Many companies have a vision statement on the wall: “To be the leading provider of innovative solutions.” Nobody remembers it, and nobody can act on it. That is not vision. That is wallpaper.

Research by Andrew Carton, Chad Murphy and Jonathan Clark found that leaders who described their vision in concrete, image-based language, so people could picture it, got better performance from their teams than leaders who used abstract words.¹ “Every customer can reach a real person within two minutes” works better than “excellent customer service”.

Why purpose and clarity belong together

Claudine Gartenberg, Andrea Prat and George Serafeim studied a large number of companies and found that financial performance was strongest where employees had a strong sense of purpose combined with clear direction from management.² Purpose alone was not enough. Clarity alone was not enough. Together, they made a difference.

How to share vision in daily work

Paint a picture. Describe what the company will look like in three years in a way someone could draw. Who are the clients? What do they say about you? What does a normal day look like?

Connect tasks to the picture. “Please call this client today, because we want every new client to feel looked after in the first week” turns a task into a step towards the cathedral.

Repeat it. John Kotter found that leaders typically under-communicate their vision by a large margin.³ Say it in meetings, onboarding, one-to-ones and decisions.

Use it to decide. When the team sees you turn down an attractive project because it does not fit the picture, the vision becomes real.

What this means for you this week

• Write your three-year picture in five concrete sentences.
• Share it with your team and ask what is unclear.
• Add a “because” that links to the picture to your next five requests.
• Use the vision openly in one decision this week.

Stones are heavy. Cathedrals are worth carrying them for.

Sources

1. Carton, A. M., Murphy, C. & Clark, J. R. (2014). A (Blurry) Vision of the Future: How Leader Rhetoric about Ultimate Goals Influences Performance. Academy of Management Journal, 57(6), 1544-1570. doi.orgVisions communicated with concrete, image-based language led to better team performance than abstract statements.
2. Gartenberg, C., Prat, A. & Serafeim, G. (2019). Corporate Purpose and Financial Performance. Organization Science, 30(1), 1-18. doi.orgCompanies where employees saw a strong sense of purpose combined with clear direction from management showed better financial performance.
3. Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Harvard Business Review. hbr.orgCommon reasons change efforts fail, from too little urgency to under-communicating the vision.