"Everything happens through conversations." — Judith E. Glaser, author of Conversational Intelligence
Success begins with clarity. So here's the honest question behind Google's seventh behavior: Do you have a clear vision for your team's success — and have you actually shared it in a way each person can act on?
Project Oxygen found that the best managers have a clear vision and strategy, and know how to articulate it. When people can see the destination, they can see their own role in reaching it. And nothing is more powerful than a team united around a shared vision of success.
Here's how to get there.
1. Start With Clarity of Vision
First, get clear on your vision. So much comes at us that we often carry several competing definitions of success on any given day. Move from ambiguity to clarity: define exactly what success looks like — while accepting that this definition is fluid and may shift in six months or a year.
Then talk to your people about what success looks like to them. Your employees are your most important asset, and understanding how they define success tells you what motivates them and where they fit. Only once you understand both can you create a genuinely shared vision — one that aligns everyone's efforts instead of duplicating them.
2. Know Your Employees' Strengths
If you wait until you need to delegate a task to figure out someone's strengths, you've waited too long. It's your job to know your team: what they excel at, what comes naturally, where their blind spots are, and what sits outside their comfort zone.
The more time your people spend working in their strengths, the easier it becomes to make agreements and build action plans that align with the shared vision. Work stops feeling like a grind and starts feeling like something people actually want to do.
3. Listen to Your Internal Clients — Your Employees
We work hard to listen to our external clients. We should extend the same care to our internal ones. Remember that everyone wants three things: to be heard, to feel valued, and to make a connection.
If you don't truly hear what your people are telling you, you won't know how to make them feel valued — because you won't know what matters to them. Some are motivated by external markers like promotions and commissions; others by internal ones like mastery or alignment with their values. Find out. Without connection, trust and engagement quietly slip away.
Picture connection as the overlap of three circles: you, your employee, and the organization. Ask what each of you wants to give and to get. That's where a shared vision actually takes root.
Collaboration Is a Dance
Building a shared vision is like dancing: you have to agree on the steps. If you're set on the cha-cha and your teammate wants the merengue, you'll spend the whole song stepping on each other's toes. The goal is to walk away in genuine agreement about where you're headed together.
This week, try asking each team member one question: "What would make this a successful year for you?" Their answers are the raw material of a shared vision.