Opal Leung's Blog

Capital isn’t scarce, vision is. – Sam Walton

An efficient team is driven by a common vision. This does not imply that members must have identical values. Instead, a common vision is a shared objective that the team, as a collective whole, seeks to achieve.

The cartoon makes transparent a widespread problem in teams today – gaps in vision among managers and employees. Although the potential success of the team achieving its goals is not impossible, the efficiency of the team is not at a maximum.

The vision is the soul or the driving force of the people. When members are motivated by varying reasons, work may still be done, but their underlying intentions, be it intrinsic motivation or extrinsic rewards, will affect the quality of the work.

A manager bears the responsibility of informing employees about a common vision. Only when the team is driven by the same force will its aim be accomplished with desirable results.