The Importance of Vision in Management and Its Impact on Small Teams

In management, the term "vision" appears frequently, often associated with well‑known companies and sounding like a strategic buzzword.

Vision is truly important; even a two‑person team such as a romantic partnership can become dull and uninteresting without a shared future outlook.

Within management, vision acts like a ghost, subtly influencing team morale.

01 Why Is Vision So Important?

Many people think that in business, getting paid on time is all that matters, but humans are not pure machines—emotions affect work enthusiasm and experience.

If a company lacks employee enthusiasm, the work experience suffers and only the salary remains to look forward to.

The role of vision in management is closely linked to psychology.

| Direction

Google’s vision is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

Therefore Google focuses on developing technologies and tools that can handle massive information. By embedding the vision into company culture and product development, Google ensures each product aligns tightly with this goal; for example, the core aim of Google Search is to let users quickly find the information they need in a simple, user‑friendly way.

| Sense of Honor

A successful company’s apparel can become cultural merchandise; wearing a shirt with the company logo can feel prestigious.

People who identify with the values and vision of companies like Tesla, Xiaomi, IKEA, or Alibaba join those firms because of the vision and often promote them to others.

| Rewards Beyond Money

Because of vision and employer branding, companies can attract capable talent even when salaries are modest.

SpaceX’s vision is to lower the cost of space transport so humanity can live on other planets. Although SpaceX cannot match the salaries of Boeing or Lockheed Martin, its vision clearly attracts many people.

02 How Does Vision Relate to My Small Team?

Even when managing a small internal team, a vision is still needed, though it may take a different form and be less obvious.

For example, a technical department within a large software group that develops a monitoring system might have the vision: “Create the most professional domestic monitoring system and open‑source it.”

This gives participants more than just a paycheck; they gain:

Technical growth that supports future career development.

Team honor, e.g., the community might later say, “The XXX monitoring system was built by XX.”

Greater hope and motivation.

| Planning Future for Team Members

In a previous article “What Should a TechLead Care About,” one role described was acting as a coach for career development.

We must consider team members’ future career goals early and find ways within the current team to achieve them.

Only when personal goals align with team goals can the team’s proactive energy be fully unleashed.

Those aspiring to become technical experts can focus on specific technology directions and participate in challenging projects.

Those aiming to become technical managers can take ownership of modules, organize meetings, and mentor newcomers.

Planning for members also builds a talent pipeline.

| Building Team Honor

If a team member feels embarrassed to say who they work for, their job feels like a funeral—just going through the motions.

Extract the team’s highlights and achievements and map them to the vision to strengthen team honor.

Some management tools and techniques:

Encourage and regularly showcase team highlights, technical breakthroughs, and best practices by publishing articles or arranging external talks to build influence.

Create small gifts or rewards to distribute after reaching milestones or achieving notable results.

Participate in company‑organized competitions or training programs as a team.

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