We've heard numerous times that crafting an effective vision statement for change is crucial for creating cohesiveness and guiding organisational change successfully. So today we wanted to look at the essential components of an effective vision statement, and the steps you can take to create one.
What Is a Vision Statement?
A vision statement serves as the “North Star” for the change. Ideally it motivates your team and guides your organisation towards the outcomes of the growth sought through the change project. Unlike a mission statement, which focuses on the present, a vision statement outlines the long-term goals and aspirations for the future. Just as a company vision describes how the organisation will seek to impact and improve the world around it; your change vision should describe how the change will make things better.
Examples of Inspiring Vision Statements
Let's start with some household names that are well-implanted in our consciousness because of their vision - and subsequent delivery on the vision.
Google: “Providing access to the world's information in one click.”
Tesla: “To create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles.”
Amazon: “To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”
Characteristics of a Great Vision Statement
As you can see by the above examples, an impactful vision statement has a few compelling characteristics. Google, Tesla and Amazon's statements all embody:
Ambition: A good vision statement inspires employees, investors, and customers to believe in the mission or purpose of the change you're describing.
Clarity and Conciseness: Use jargon-free language and infuse it with passion.
Future-Orientation: Project into the future. For a company vision this might be five to ten years ahead. For a complex business transformation, the same timeline could apply. For a simpler change vision, it might be 1 - 2 years after the change has been completed.
Alignment with Values and Goals: Ensure it resonates with your business values and objectives.
Steps to Craft an Effective Vision Statement for Change
The steps to create a vision for change will include a normal process of consulting key stakeholders, workshopping or drafting language that hits the right tone and audience, gaining input, submitting for review and obtaining approval to communicate the statement.
To inform the collaborative process, we can draw on the organisation's change management model to validate that the vision for the change contains the necessary elements to drive its success. If your organisation doesn't have a change management model, you can use another - such as the 8 steps or Accelerators provided by Kotter to guide a full range of thinking about the change vision.
These steps guide the crafting of an effective vision statement for change by providing a checklist of considerations for successful execution. They acknowledge that change is often met with resistance and that a system of elements is necessary to overcome challenges in change. While your change vision should be ambitious, it also needs to be anchored in the organisational culture so it achieves resonance.
Create a Sense of Urgency: Highlight the need for change and why it’s essential.
Build a Guiding Coalition: Involve key stakeholders to shape the vision collaboratively.
Formulate a Strategic Vision and Initiatives: Define your long-term goals and the steps to achieve them.
Communicate the Vision: Share it with your team, ensuring everyone understands and embraces it.
Empower Others to Act: Encourage employees to contribute to the vision’s realisation.
Create Short-Term Wins: Celebrate small victories along the way.
Consolidate Gains and Produce More Change: Keep momentum going.
Anchor New Approaches in the Culture: Integrate the vision into your organisation’s DNA.
Pulling it together
When it's time to put pen to paper, answering some simple questions might help to synthesise the concepts, hopes, aspirations and organisational realities of the change into a cohesive vision statement.
What are the hopes and dreams for the change?
What problem does it solve for the greater good?
Who and what are we aspiring to change?
Taking the time to craft an effective vision statement for the change initiative you're working on helps to inspire action and align everyone towards the common purpose behind the change.
If your change project needs additional help in crafting an effective change vision, or getting off to a great start, contact us for a free consultation.
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