Kids play a simple game on paper – connect the dots. The dots are numbered and when you run a line in order from one to the next they make a picture. Vision & mission statements, while always ‘en vogue’ with leader types, can quickly become meaningless in the day to day operation of a place. Your mission statement MUST constantly help your team ‘connect the dots’. More importantly, YOU serve as the vision caster (what will the final picture look like) but also as the blue printer (where do we place the numbers).

If you are leading well, your team members know exactly what it looks like to succeed. They know by definition the picture that they are creating and where to go next. So, how much stuff is your team busy with that doesn’t connect with your mission? Same challenge from a different angle – are you emphatically sure that you are hyper focused on executing a game plan that is certain to lead your team in accomplishing the most important work? Are you communicating effectively and passionately about your vision and plans? Did you do it last year, but forget to keep the vision out in front of them this week?

Your team needs you to lead well. Your team needs you to communicate with clarity, with hope and with encouragement. AND your team needs a plan that will allow them the opportunity to not only succeed, but to WIN!