Strategy and vision

1.) What are emerging and collective visions and how are they important for leaders of sport organizations?

Pre: I will take a stab at it and say that emerging visions are long terms goals set forth by organizations in response to current circumstance. Furthermore, organizations may modify their vision for the future if certain influences require them to pivot. I would guess that collective vision is referring to the idea that all members of an organization share a vision for the future of their organization. The idea of collective vision means that everyone is pulling in the same direction. The power of the whole is much greater than that of the individual. I would note that it is a challenge to enable all members of a team to share in a collective mindset. Often times, individuals can’t see beyond their own ego and fail to remove their personal ambitions from the decision making process of a team.

Post: Emerging visions usually develop quickly out of opportunities and challenges. These types of visions typically occur in response to something and are not as planned out. These are important for sport organizations so that they can effectively respond to opportunities and challenges in a timely manner. This allows them to capitalize on events to further their organizational goals. Collective visions can be referred to as visions shared between all members of an organization. I captured the essence of this in the pre analysis but failed to comment on the process taken to achieve a shared vision. It makes sense that leaders and administrators are responsible for passing along the vision of the organization to all members. Sport organizations need a collective vision or else they risk fragmentation. It does no good if members of an organization are working under different sets of guidelines.

2.) What all is involved in the “practice” of visionary leadership?

Pre: Good question. I would say that the “practice” of visionary leadership is forward thinking and the ability to impart an optimistic outlook for the future to those that follow. Visionary leadership can be both motivating and directive as it let’s followers know where the group is headed and how they will get there.

Post: The “practice” of visionary leadership is directed at key individuals who can help the leader to pass along a vision to other members of the organization. A leader must continually convey the vision for an organization through actions and speech. A leader must act with integrity or else followers will not support the direction they are working towards. The idea of collective vision comes up here because the goal of visionary leadership is to create a collective vision that will lead an organization towards a prosperous future.

3.) What are the basic elements of traditional strategic planning and how might you defectively lead these efforts in an organization?

Pre: The basic elements of traditional strategic planning involve a step by step process aimed to guide the future of an organization as it relates to it’s goals and ambitions. I would presume that most strategic planning starts off with a look at the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats associated with the organization. Once all these items are identified, the focus of the plan turns to informing the decision makers and gaining their insight on the findings. Once the decision makers come to a collective vision for the future of the organization, that vision is then organized into action items. These action items are aimed at addressing the specificities that the organization needs to improve upon or change to achieve their strategic goals.

Post: I identified most of the steps involved in strategic planning in my pre-analysis but failed to include evaluation and reassessment, which is a vital piece of the process. Evaluation allows us to identify whether or not the actions taken are working or not. If things are not going as planned, the evaluation will help to move in a direction that is better aligned with the goals of the strategic plan.

4.) What is “strategic thinking” and how can it be applied to modern sport organization leadership?

Pre: Strategic thinking is a continual process of identifying viable opportunities to further personal/organizational motives with respect to all indemnifying factors at play. This type of thinking can be applied to modern sport organizations in a number of ways. Most sport organizations do the bare minimum to support their programs and customers because they lack the desire for change. Continual strategic thinking enables sport organizations to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to up and coming trends when it comes to training, competition, and administration.

Post: It makes sense that there are certain questions that need to be asked when thinking strategically. I had not considered some of the questions addressed in the chapter but am not surprised by them either. The underlying idea with strategic thinking is that we are constantly questioning how we can improve upon the current process so that we can keep building towards a better future.

Three things:

1.) Strategic Planning: This concept spoke to me because we are about to head into a strategic planning process for my assistantship. I have been asked to give my input on what we need to do to improve our organization. The concepts and strategies identified in the chapter give me a little more information so that I know where to start. Before, I would have muddled my way through a SWOT analysis and ended there. I now realize that this process requires a large amount of time and oversight.

2.) Visionary Leadership: I often think of this concept when identifying my leadership style. I often times get caught up in the moment and fail to plan for the future. The ideals explained through the chapter have reassured me that it is necessary to look ahead and create a vision for the future. Thus, visionary leadership can help to look ahead and share that vision with the people who I will need in the process.

3.) Deliberate vs Emergent Strategy: This concept was not new to me but is interesting. I often times wonder if organizations do enough to be deliberate. More often than not, sport organizations respond to crisis and opportunities. With a little foresight, these same organizations could have deliberately instituted a plan that could have avoided negativities in the first place. I mentioned this last week, but often times sport personnel are overworked and underpaid. It is no surprise that deliberate strategic planning is often times disregarded because nobody has the time to do it. Instead, sport orgs get caught in challenges.