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Vision helps to define where the organization is headed. The vision should paint a clear and compelling view of the future that helps everyone understand where the organization is headed and perhaps what it will be like once you’ve reached your desired state. It must motivate, be ambitious and should stretch people to achieve more than they thought possible.
A clear vision is one that answers the question …Where are we headed?
Once you have your vision in place, then you can proceed with the strategies, plans and budgets to map out exactly how you will move ahead to realize the vision.
A clear vision has the potential to break through all the forces that support the status quo and encourage a true commitment by:
1. CLARIFYING the general DIRECTION for the organization;
2. MOTIVATING people to take ACTION in the right direction;
What Makes a Vision Great?
Clearly, some visions are better than others. Who can question the success of Bill Gates’ “A computer on every desktop” at Microsoft? This vision was successful because it possessed a set of characteristics shared by all great visions. Great visions are:
- Imaginable – they convey a picture of what the future should look like.
- Desirable – they appeal to the long-term interests of employees, customers, stockholders, and others who have a stake in the enterprise.
- Flexible – they accommodate individual initiative and allow alternative responses in light of changing conditions.
- Memorable – they communicate a message easily and are somehow ‘catchy’ or hard to forget?
What Works and What Doesn’t Work
What Works
- Trying to see – literally – possible futures
- Visions that are so clear they can be articulated in one minute or less
- Vision statements that are creative and memorable. It needs to be simple, yet catchy to make it stand out. Think short, fun and to the point.
What Doesn’t
- Assuming linear or logical plans and budgets alone adequately guide behavior when you’re trying to leap into the future
- Overly analytic, financially based vision exercises
- Giving fifty-four logical reasons why our future needs to look different than our past
Get the Complete ‘Strategy Starter Kit’
The Strategy Starter Kit includes:
- Strategy Starter Kit Workbook (pdf, 40 pages) – A series of questions and fill-in-the-blanks that result in your completed Business Planning Document, containing aligned Mission, Vision, Strategies, Goals & Objectives, as well as a Sustainment Plan to ensure success.
- ‘Aligning Vision, Mission & Goals’ Full-Length Video (approx. 15 minutes) – Audio (mp3) and Visual Slides (ppt) can be downloaded separately
- ‘Aligning Vision, Mission & Goals’ Cheat Sheet (pdf, 1 page)
- ‘Mission Statements’ Podcast + Podcast Slides (mp3, ppt)
- ‘Mission Statements’ Cheat Sheet (pdf, 1 page)
- ‘The Vision Statement’ Podcast & Podcast Slides (mp3, ppt)
- ‘The Vision Statement’ Cheat Sheet (pdf, 1 page)
- ‘SMART Goals and HARD Goals’ Podcast & Podcast Slides (mp3, ppt)
- ‘SMART Goals and HARD Goals’ Cheat Sheet(pdf, 1 page)
Get instant access to the Strategy Starter Kit…
