Getting Visionaries And Integrators™ On The Same Page

Today I’m talking to all you Visionaries and Integrators out there.

I’ve got to tell you: Probably the most common Visionary/Integrator™ issue that we see is that the Visionary and the Integrator are not on the same page. I want to talk to you about how we get there.

How do the Visionary and the Integrator get to a place where their thoughts about processes, people, procedures, and the different ideas that they’re kicking around are in sync? The place where they are on the same page about what they are doing and where their focus is for the business? Here is a very powerful solution. If there’s one thing you can do that will have a huge impact on your business, it’s this tool: the Same Page Meeting™.

It’s a simple approach and it happens every month. For two to four hours, you’re going to lock yourself in a room together and go through this simple three-part agenda.

Another thing that may be going on is the Visionary feeling like their leadership team is just not there yet. They can’t handle these Rocks. They might want to step in and handle some of the Rocks for them. Visionaries, if this is the case, I want to challenge you on a couple of points:

A 3-Part Meeting Agenda

Part One is the check-in, and we want you to check in on a very human level. This is like a business marriage. It’s a really close, personal relationship. You want to really understand “Where’s your head? What’s going on that’s important to you?” Really plugin and connect with each other.

Part Two is where you’re going to build your Issues List. Between meetings, collect those issues where you sense you’re NOT on the same page, or you may already be on the same page but want to validate — anything that you want to make sure you get on the same page about. Collect those. Then, in the meeting, you’re going to build that Issues List together.

Part Three is to begin working through those issues and IDS™ them: Identify, Discuss, and Solve those issues. You’re going to prioritize issues and work them one at a time, with the most important thing first. Take as long as necessary. Some months you may be locked in that room for a really, really long time. Other months it may happen fast.

Getting Visionaries and Integrators in Sync

It’s OK for you to do this meeting in some place that’s fun for you. We have some V/I Duos™ that do this at a restaurant over cigars and drinks, or sometimes they’ll do it on the golf course. It’s OK for you to have some fun with it. It’s a relationship that we’re building here. But you’ve got to give yourself the space to deal with these things so that you’re really in sync and on the same page. You owe it to the rest of your leadership team too.

I’ve seen a lot of leadership team meetings where the discussion is only going back and forth between the Visionary and the Integrator. And it can go on for a really long time because they’re simply not on the same page. During the whole debate, the rest of the leadership team is just sitting there watching it happen. You’re dragging them through this mess because you two didn’t take the time to make sure you were on the same page about that issue. You owe it to that leadership team to make sure that you are.

Three key points to wrap this one up:

1. This is the single most important thing you can do to strengthen your Visionary/Integrator relationship.
2. Commit as much time as it’s going to take in that Same Page Meeting to make sure that you get in sync, and that you do in fact get on the same page.
3. Schedule your next Same Page Meeting now. In fact, why don’t you go ahead and schedule the next three? Let’s get it on the calendar and make it happen.

Take the Crystallizer Assessment and discover your unique leadership abilities. Decide if you are a Visionary, an Integrator, or neither!