More Visioning Ideas

  

Vision actually leads the leader.  I provides a target and lights the fire within to propel him forward.  Visions are not mystical.  They draw from past experiences and people around the leader who is casting the vision.  A good vision also meets other people’s needs and adds value to them.  If your vision does not serve others, its probably too small and will not provide any motivational value.

A sound vision acts like a magnet and attracts challenges and unites people.  The more challenging the vision the harder people will work to achieve it.  Quote Edwin Land, the founder of Poleriod.  “The first thing you do is teach the person to feel that the vision is very important and nearly impossible.  That draws out the drive in winners.” 

Anther technique to use is your listening skills.  First listen carefully to your inner voice.  Think about what you would like to see change in the world around you.  The are several ways to improve your vision.  Measure yourself, and do a gut check, and ask God or a higher power to help you.

Finally two more quotes that may help define a good vision.

There is…. no future other that as we will it to be.  If we conceive of a future state as desirable, we tend to orient ourselves toward it and to initiate the courses of action necessary to its attainment.  (McHale, 1969)

To grasp and hold a vision, to fix it in your senses, that is the very essence, I believe, of succdssful leadership.  Not only on the movie set, where I learned it, but everywhere.  (Ronald Reagon, May 31, 1988)

Developing a Vision

I think one of the primary Characteristics of an authentic leader is their ability to define and communicate a compelling vision for their organization or themselves. 

As soon as you have begun visioning, you must crystallize your vision with a powerful vision statement.  A vision statement is a description of a future.  Not the future, but rather a future, a possible future, for which you are willing to take a stand, to strive, to work, and to build your institution.  The foundation for your planning process, in fact, the foundation for your institution is your vision of the future and a description of what your institution will look like in the future.  A vision gives meaning to an organization’s existence and to all those who share this vision.  Before you spend your time on strategies, financial planning, etc., you need to focus on the vision of who and what you want to become.  Your vision, when crystallized will act as a source of inspiration and as a guiding light for you and for ever\one else in your organization.  It is easy to develop vision statements.  You can probably come up with one for your institution very quickly.  It is difficult, however, to generate a powerful vision statement.

         A powerful vision statement is vivid.  You can see, hear, taste, feel, and smell it.  It is easy to understand, as well as exuberant and alive.  It is filled with possibilities that do not currently exist.  A powerful vision statement gives energy and inspires action.  It describes a future worth expending energy for; worth being tired for; worth resolving conflicts for; worth devoting part of your life for.  A powerful vision statement is generative.  It sparks creative ideas and thoughts you did not have before.  It generates ideas for new avenues of action, unexpected possibilities, new relationships, unanticipated resources.  Q powerful vision statement is not random dreaming; it is an exercise in focused visualization, a technique that has helped develop winners for decades. 

         Once formulated, your vision statement is something that you can revisit over and over again.  It will help you to return to the purpose of your work, to soothe your frustrations, to place your setbacks in context.  A carefully crafted vision can add joy and purpose to all your efforts. 

         Your vision statement is your statement of expression of potential.  It is a description of what your and your institution can become, and when effectively communicated, it provides common focus.  The only wrong vision statement is one that is developed to please someone else, or one that is written for the wrong reason, or by the wrong person or persons.   The right vision statement for you should excite you, give your work meaning and worth, and express much of what you see to be your purpose.

         Your vision will inspire and energize you when it depicts a future that is better, brighter, and more fulfilling than the present.  Vision makes a difference!