Visionary Thinking

Visionary thinking is all about seeing the world as it could be; not just as it is or what it has always been.

So, as we reconstruct our mental model of the world of work, I've been thinking about how it could come in handy. You might be wondering how to reconfigure your working day, now that the office is an option again. Or you might want to revolutionise your working life altogether. No matter what is on your mind, setting a vision for how you want it to be - your ideal world scenario - is a great place to start.

I used to shy away from setting visions for myself. Isn’t it just for leaders who want to inspire their people; encouraging them to join a mission?

But, in working with teams going through change, I realised visionary thinking can benefit everyone. Here's why:

It can help you (and your team) manage uncertainty. Setting and working towards a meaningful vision helps to create your own certainty.

It can help you find the discipline to focus on what’s important for your future. Visionary thinkers find ways to avoid common overplayed thoughts like ‘am I safe here?’ and ‘am I accepted here?’…When your mind is unshackled from these concerns, you can sharpen your focus to what is coming next - and how you want that to look - rather than fixating on what went before.

It can help you tune into opportunity. If you are clear on your vision, and the goals you want to reach to get you there, your prefrontal cortex (which is the part of the brain responsible for planning, decision making and rational thought) will help to focus on opportunities in your environment that will progress you towards those goals. 

It can even help you collaborate more effectively. By articulating your cause in visionary terms, your colleagues will be much more likely to engage with it - and therefore contribute to it - or find ways to join forces with their own cause.

  To work on your ability to think like a visionary, there are a few steps to keep in mind: 

1)   Reframe how you respond to the world around you. Your aim is to move away from the ‘am I safe here?’ state and even the ‘what do other people think of me?’ state – so you can feel free to spend more time in ‘what lies ahead’ state. Start by noticing these thoughts, accepting them for what they are and then deliberately changing your focus. 

2)  When you break it down, visions form from little dots of data connected in a novel and inspiring way. But, you need to collect the dots before you can connect the dots…

To do this you need to:

-  Listen: Seek out people and ask questions. Be unendingly interested in what other people have to say, where they are coming from and their view of the world. 

-  Explore: Travel widely, seeking new places and cultures. And if that’s not possible, you can still learn about new places and cultures through books and film. This doesn’t mean you have to suddenly start reading Tolstoy. I have two young kids so my capacity for cultural exploration through literature is pretty limited. That’s why you’ll notice that most of my insights come from the likes of the Lego Batman and Super Mario. Even when time and resources are not on your side, you can still find ways to explore and absorb new ideas.

- Reflect: Carve out time to reflect on everything you take in from the world around you. It is then, with all of this input, that you can start to see things in life that may otherwise have passed you by. You’ll soon find that your brain starts making new connections – bringing you insight, creative thinking and inspiration for the future. In other words: patterns of visionary thought.

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So, can you think of a vision for how you want your working life to be? Because it doesn’t have to stay how it is. And it definitely won’t go back to what it has always been. In fact, you have an opportunity to change it for the better. You just have to see it first.

I would love to hear your vision for the future of our working world. You can join the conversation in the comments below.

This newsletter is a part of a series to help you find ways to change your experience of work for the better. Subscribe and you'll find it in your inbox every other week.