Let’s settle a long-time debate …

What’s more important when building and scaling a business … idea or execution?!

Team Idea would be shouting from the rooftop … without an idea we have nothing to execute upon.

After all, we’ve been trained to begin with the end in mind. If we don’t know where we’re going, how are we supposed to take effective action and execute?!!!

Team Execution would be advertising the laundry list of idea casualties … those brilliant ideas being perfected in a think tank without anything tangible to show for it.

It would be a sea of Visionaries living with woulda, coulda, shoulda regrets. Because as we all know … ideas don’t solve real-world problems – execution does.

This debate could go on and on until we’re blue in the face and both teams suffer … so let’s take a more collaborative approach …

Warren Bennis says, “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.”

Entrepreneurial leadership is about uniting ideas with execution to bring real solutions to real people on a deeply human level.

In business, we call the role responsible for generating big ideas the Visionary. And the role responsible for executing the Visionary’s ideas the Integrator.

We’ve seen this dynamic duo in action with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak … Walt Disney and his brother Roy … Bill Gates and Paul Allen and the list goes on.

If you’re not sold yet on the power of uniting Visionaries and Integrators, we could keep debating BUT in true Organize To Scale™ fashion, we prefer making brilliant ideas a reality instead. 😉

So, the question then becomes … Are you naturally wired to be a Visionary or an Integrator?

There’s truly no right or wrong answer … the key is knowing yourself so you can recruit what’s missing.

As the ideas person, a Visionary’s mind is always onto the next big thing … Often before they (or their team) has had an opportunity to bring the previous brilliant idea to life.

It’s critical to have a clear vision, a primary focus, and an inspiring BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) so our teams and tribes can rally with us to achieve success.

To quote my father, Russell Gray …“When you have clarity of vision, strategy and tactics become self-evident.”

If you’re a naturally wired Visionary, here are some common pitfalls and blindspots which may be hindering the advancement of your Vision …

• Being unclear with our Vision, yet, believing we are crystal clear
• Suffering from shiny-penny syndrome and continually chasing the next great idea
• Diluting our personal time and energy by focusing on too many priorities at once
• Believing we have the capacity to be the Visionary and Integrator at the same time
• Continually undermining the Integrator, decreasing both their motivation and confidence in their decision making
• Showing up in a manner which deters open and honest communication
• Negatively impacting execution by overloading the team with multiple priorities while also providing inconsistent and unclear directives

On the flip side, translating a clear Vision into reality has struggles of its own.

The Integrator tends to be much more logical than the Visionary and thinks in terms of workflows, processes, resource management and execution timelines.

At our peak, Integrators effectively translate the vision to the tactical team and keep the wheels on the day-to-day operations bus.

Integrators filter through the Visionary’s ideas and systematically prioritize the initiatives, create structure, rally the team, and make things happen.

If you’re a naturally wired Integrator, here are some common pitfalls and blindspots which hinder our ability to effectively execute the Vision …

• Not asking clarifying questions to be certain we’ve clearly captured the Visionary’s Vision
• Poking holes in a vision while the Visionary is white-boarding ideas
• Saying yes to all the Visionary’s ideas at once and inadequately managing the Visionary’s expectations
• Leaning on the Visionary to solve “in the weeds” tasks
• Not protecting the confidence of our teams and ourselves
• Providing limited or fragmented communication on progress which erodes trust and causes the Visionary to want to jump in

When these common pitfalls and blindspots go unchecked, Visionaries and Integrators become frustrated, execution suffers and mass confusion sets in … leading to a chaotic, overwhelming and demotivating environment for all.

This can all be resolved by creating a successful Visionary/Integrator dynamic which is based on alignment and sequential execution.

“Building a visionary company requires 1% vision and 99% alignment. When you have superb alignment, a visitor could drop in from outer space and infer your vision from the operations and activities of the company without ever reading it on paper or meeting a single senior executive.”

― Jim Collins

Constant collaboration and solid communication between the Visionary and Integrator roles is an absolute must.

The Integrator has to clearly understand where to lead the team and why. And the Visionary must have confidence in the Integrator in order to let go and trust the process.

It’s a continual wrestling between the Visionary and Integrator to hold the Vision with extreme clarity, and maintain a culture of open communication so issues and challenges are addressed head on, obstacles are promptly removed, and positive momentum can build.

We don’t have to tell you that building and scaling a business has its challenges … So of course, there will be tension from time to time.

The key is maintaining a high-trust environment between the Visionary and Integrator …

One where each person has the courage, character, commitment, and competency to generate a crystal clear vision and take effective action towards impactful results.

A successful Visionary / Integrator relationship is like a power couple …

When we’re aligned and driving hard towards our goals it’s contagious. Everyone wants to be a part of it. The world needs that type of energy right now … so let’s go be that!

To discover if you’re naturally wired to be a Visionary or Integrator, click here >>

We trust discovering your natural giftedness and aligning yourself with team that complements what’s missing will be a recipe to catapult you to new heights! And we can’t wait to hear about it!