An Overview of - A (Blurry) Vision of the Future: How Leader Rhetoric About Ultimate Goals Influences Performance

Written by authors Andrew M. Carton, Chad Murphy, and Jonathan R. Clark; this research was published in the 2014 by the Academy of Management Journal. The article examines the importance of leaders articulating clear and compelling visions to enhance employees' motivation and organizational performance.

Photo by Desola Lanre-Ologun on Unsplash

This study focuses on how leaders communicate purpose to their teams through two key message types: visions and values. The research breaks new ground by examining how these messages create shared understanding across teams, rather than just individual understanding.

The researchers found that the most effective combination for improving performance was:

• High use of vision imagery (vivid, descriptive future-focused messages)

• Limited use of value statements

This combination works because it helps teams develop a common understanding of their organization's goals, which improves coordination.

The study's predictions were supported by an archival study of 151 hospitals and an experiment with 62 groups of full-time employees. After realizing the findings, the team conducted more experiments and interestingly, the research uncovered two common mistakes leaders make:

1. They tend to present visions without imagery

2. They overuse value-based messages

This suggests that many leaders might be communicating in ways that are less effective than they could be for building shared purpose among their teams.

Read the Abstract and full article here: https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/amj.2012.0101