Create A Vivid Picture In Your Mind

The first thing Phil Jackson did when he was elevated to head coach of the Chicago Bulls: deep visioning.

In his autobiography, he writes: "I had learned from the Lakota and my own experience as a coach that vision is the source of leadership, the expansive dream state where everything begins and all is possible. I started by creating a vivid picture in my mind of what the team could become. My vision could be lofty, I reminded myself, but it couldn't be a pipe dream. I had to take into account not only what I wanted to achieve, but how I was going to get there."

In my experience, we do not spend enough time visioning. We jump into activity and hope that it will work itself out, or that a drab statement like "the vision is to win a championship" will be enough. As a result, the pictures we do conjure aren't deep enough or rich enough in information to guide decision-making or inspire behaviour change.

Consider that teams at different points in their maturity will require different visions:

• Being a developing team is different to being an emerging team.

• Being an emerging team is different to being a mature team.

• Being a mature team is different to being a contending team.

In that sense, your revision is equally as important as your vision.

And while we’ve under-indexed on vision, we've probably over-indexed on values and behaviours exercises. (When I say probably, I mean definitely).

Often, I've even seen some teams start with values and behaviours, without a clear vision at all. This creates a disconnect between where you want to go and how you want to behave. Deep visioning should always come first. As Seneca points out: “If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable.”

With AFL Team Canada, here was my vision:

A vision is — quite literally — a place you can see. You can put yourself there.

It should elicit emotion. You should be able to FEEL it.

A vision needs to be rich enough in information to guide decision-making and inspire behaviour change.

Which is why everything in our program was reverse-engineered from this vision. Our jersey design. Our skill development. Our fitness plan. Our culture. Our language. Our prioritization. Our selection choices. Everything.

And here's the thing: my vision stops short of the goal. We hadn’t even won the game yet — there is still 2 minutes to go and scores are level. If my vision came true, our players would need to be brave and go and win the game. They would need to figure out a way to muster some extra energy, find a way to communicate, and show teamship.

But if my vision came true, I knew one thing: they’d been thinking about that moment for three years, so they should feel comfortable and prepared once they got there.

And, whatever the result, they had already made Canada proud.

To me: that's what a vision is. It clarifies decisions, and drives behaviour. It's a place. A feeling.

In my mind, that's why it's worth spending so much time on.

Work with me in 2025

This year, I turned 40.

To mark the milestone, I revised my vision for myself. Here’s what I came up with:

For the next 40 years, I want to spend my time doing three things: coaching, writing, and being a dad.

With that in mind, I’ve cleared my calendar for 2025 so that I can focus on coaching more head coaches.

How to get started: Get in touch! 

You can reply to this email, or head to codyroyle.com for more specific information about how I might be able to help.