Creating effective vision statements can empower your organization.

Business Plan Specialist
for Entrepreneurs

Free Tips for Creating Vision Statements  (from James Collins and Jerry Porras)

Toward what reality do you want to drive your organization? A vision statement is a compelling description of how "a day in the life of the customer" is improved by enjoying the benefits of your products and services. This is called "painting a picture with your words." Life is now given to the mission. Now, the mission is translated into words so that the workers can carry a clear and forceful image in their heads.

Every manager has the capacity to be visionary.  There is nothing mystical or super-human about it.  A true visionary is someone who recognizes a need or opportunity and, regardless of conventional wisdom and skeptics, does something about.  Vision isn't forecasting the future; it is creating the future by taking action in the present.

Visualization can be helpful but it is not required.  However, the ability to communicate a vivid, imaginative conception of what you want to see happen can be powerfully motivating.  Communicating in ways that instinctively appeal to people is an important part of turning your aim into reality.

There is no magic formula for creating such a vision, but authors Collins and Porras suggest that there are three conditions necessary for an overall aim to take root in an organization.

1. An overall aim must be a reflection of the inner personal needs, values, and motivations of members of the organization.

2. There must be an authentic personal commitment.

3. Communication and reinforcement are vitally important.

In summary, a Vision 

• "An image of our desired future"
• A vivid description of what things will be like once we have attained the mission
• Compelling, tangible and immediate
• Described in the present tense
• A richly detailed and visual image

Click here to learn about Creating A Mission Statement

Click here to learn about Value Proposition and Position Statements

Putting it All Together:

A compelling Vision and Mission can be translated into Goals which are realized through Strategies implemented as Initiatives to generate Results.

Resources:

"Purpose, Mission, Vision", James C. Collins and Jerry Porras, July 1989 Stanford Business School Magazine.

"Organizational Vision and Visionary Organizations", by James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras, California Management Review, Fall 1991.

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