“What’s the next step in the planning process?” I pushed. “How do you know that your vision makes a connection with every team member?”

“Simple,” Lauren replied. “I ask them. I know it is quite a novel idea. You would be surprised what you can learn about a person by asking a few questions.”

Her sarcasm brought a smile, so I played along. “Really? Asking questions?”

“So, I call a team meeting,” Lauren explained. “The subject area is planning, and we talk about the vision. I draw some circles and arrows, label a few things about my vision, and then ask them to fill in the white space. And we talk. As we talk, the picture on the flipchart gets messier, and the vision becomes clearer.”

“And then?”

“And then I stop. I stop and send them away. The next step requires thought and preparation. I want them to do that on their own, before our next meeting. The vision describes the destination. They have to figure out how we are going to get there. They have some decisions to make.”