2D3-00-Describe How Frames, Interpretive Schemes and Pragmatic Communication are used

Visionary Leadership

Interviewer: How would you define visionary leadership?

Representative Keith Ellison
United States Congressman, 5th District of Minnesota
Washington, D.C.

Visionary leadership is simply that leadership which can see what is around the corner, what is beyond the horizon. That kind of leadership is the leadership that often can be categorized as iconoclastic, sometimes weird, sometimes quirky, but that visionary leadership that can see that which is not yet manifested.

Martin Luther King could see an America that was race neutral, that included the talents of all people. He could see a nation which little Black boys and little White boys and little Black girls and little White girls could sit down and go to school together. Whereas in 1963, when he gave that speech, America had not yet achieved that vision.

Now, today, in many places around America, that vision exists. Some places it does not exist too, so we have challenges yet to overcome. But he could see that, yet it had not happened.

Of course, Robert Kennedy said, some people look at the world and see it as it is, I look at the world and see as it could be. This is the essence of vision in my view.

So for example, a public manager who can see a cost-effective healthcare delivery system which covers everybody, which promotes prevention, which promotes long-term care, and which really is a wellness system, not a sick care system, that is a person who takes vision, a person who can look at a payment system and look and say, you know, we can do it much better and more efficient for less money than it costs us right now.

Somebody could look and say, you know, we can move people around more effectively than we are moving them around now at a lower price and faster. This is the visionary, the person who can see that which has not yet been manifested, but which could happen if we marshaled our resources in a certain way, that person is the visionary. That particular talent or skill is something that needs to be cultivated.

State Senator Katie Sieben
Minnesota State Senator, District 57
St. Paul, MN

I think, well first to use a cliché, it is seeing the forest through the trees. So its having a sense of what your larger purpose is; either in the direction you want your organization to go or something that you are trying to accomplish for the broader public or for the greater good.

Ms. Deborah Chase
City Council Member 1998 - 2003, Mayor 2002 - 2003
City of Kennmore

Boy, that is a tough one, in the sense of that it can change over time, and it depends on what your community is in a time continuum so to speak. However, one of things that we did in my city council was, at the beginning when we first incorporated within about a year-and-a-half, we came out with a vision statement, and we worked with a citizen group to get there.

Let me read you a few other things that we put into that and it was for the year 2020: we talked about seeing Kenmore as a community that is family friendly with a small town feeling that recognizes its history and is open to, and values diversity. A community that supports and encourages quality schools, diverse and continuing education opportunities, and a community that is a good partner with the citizens and governments throughout the region. That is one of about 20 statements that we put together.

So it was matching the community and everything we had to express over about five years relating up to that, and then understanding the full consequences of any policy decisions to support those, with an eye to the future to leave a sustainable legacy.

Organizational Mission and Visionary Leadership

Interviewer: How does a public agency's mission relate to the leadership vision?

Representative Keith Ellison
United States Congressman, 5th District of Minnesota
Washington, D.C.

Well, obviously they are inextricably connected. Well, first of all, the vision should drive the mission. Where we are trying to go should drive our stated purpose, and you need buy in from everyone in the organization. People need to understand the mission and to do that they need to understand the vision.

Now, the vision and the mission are not exactly the same. The vision is, here is where we are trying to go, here is what we are trying to achieve. And the mission is, here is what you are going to do, here is what we do. But what we do should be led by vision.

The way an organization can avoid mission creep is by being clear on what its vision is, because obviously in the course of doing work, everything is related to everything else. So if you are doing one thing, you can see how doing something else might help the immediate goal of the mission, but that very same thing may not be part of the vision. So keeping a firm eye on the vision will help you maintain the mission, which of course will hopefully lead to efficiency and effectiveness.

Of course, you never should be too stuck in your ways to reevaluate the vision. The vision may change. You may see more and see clear, have better data, and therefore your vision may change, and therefore you need to adjust the mission.

But you should never just let your mission sort of like wander, because you have lost sight of the vision.

So the vision might be an educated workforce able to respond to technology and global needs and to meet the needs of the society that we are in, and we are having a vision of having that achieved.

Well, our mission is to educate children, and to educate them according to the needs of a changing society. Well, that is fine, but if we are not clear on the vision, then we can incorporate all other—a whole bunch of other tasks that we might think are part of our mission but really represent just mission creep.

State Senator Katie Sieben
Minnesota State Senator, District 57
St. Paul, MN

Some public agencies or, for instance, state agencies, have a specific mission statement and that certainly is a result of working on or thinking about which direction the organization is trying to move or to lead. I would think that the vision for the public agency should be synonymous with the mission. You know, if you think of a mission in terms of you are trying to get the public agency to move in a specific direction or accomplish a specific goal, then the vision would probably be very similar to that if not the same.

Ms. Deborah Chase
City Council Member 1998 - 2003, Mayor 2002 - 2003
City of Kennmore

In my view the vision is a path to fulfilling the mission. The agency's mission may change slightly over time. But the leadership vision can greatly change depending on, if elected [officials] change, if the economics of the area changes, if the social and cultural portions of the city start to the make as shift. So again, the vision helps you achieve the mission.

Credits

Subject Matter Expert:

Candis Best

Interactive Design:

Pat Lapinski, Niles Bisping

Instructional Designer:

Kathleen Fjelstul

Project Manager:

Paul Schwoboda