The vision

(upbeat music) - Hi there, welcome back. All right in this module, we're going to learn how to go about developing the vision of the organization. Well, specifically, by the end of this module, you'll know what a vision is as well as how to create one. And you'll also learn to use a tool known as the Affinity Diagram to help develop the vision. So, let's get started by first explaining what the vision is and why it's so important. Well, put simply, the vision enables organizations to define their ideal state of being. But done correctly, this vision will inspire and motivate each and every employee to perform at their very best. And as we'll see in the coming modules, the vision will also help us define the goals and objectives of the organization as it brings clarity to what the future will look like. Now the vision is always stated in the present tense as people begin to imagine what a positive future for the organization looks like. Now this is very similar to what business coach Steven Cubby teaches when he encourages people to construct a mental image of what success looks like. He challenges his students to begin with the end in mind. Now, in earlier modules, we spent a lot of time talking about the current situation of the organization. We learned about identifying the organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. And we also talked about reviewing the performance of metrics and examining so called steep factors. Now, these different forms of analysis are very important as we prepare to define a strategic vision of the organization. All right, well before we learn how to create the vision, let's first talk about its characteristics. First, the vision is best constructed by a group of senior leaders since the chances for long term success are much higher when the vision is shared by many. Next, the vision should be grounded in reality as the team focuses on how to solve existing problems by the creation of an improved ideal state. This is why having a good grasp of the organization's strengths and opportunities is so important as we work to manage by facts. And finally, as we mentioned earlier, the vision should inspire all associates, much like Dr. Martin Luther King's vision for a better tomorrow inspired people the world over. So, these are some of the characteristics. Now, let's learn the steps for creating an excellent vision. Well the first step of the process is for the team to form what we call the reflection question. For example, a reflection question could be it's December 2013 and net profits are at an all time high, how did we accomplish this? Remember, the vision is always stated in the present tense, which is why we always state the reflection question in the present tense. And, we can also create reflection questions that are more project or task oriented, here's an example. We've designed and deployed an effective expense reporting system, what are its key characteristics? Again, this question is written in the present tense as if it's already happened. Now, once the reflection question is created, a second step of the process is to leverage a powerful brainstorming tool called the Affinity Diagram. Well to begin this process, each team member writes down as many answers to the reflection question as they can on post-it notes. Each post-it note should have one answer written in block letters. Now once complete, each post-it note should be randomly placed on a wall or piece of butcher's paper. Each team member should then be encouraged to read all of their colleagues' answers as this will also help generate additional ideas. Now, after around 10 to 20 minutes, there will most likely be dozens of post-it notes up on the wall. Now we've personally seen more than a hundred post-it notes generated by a small team in less than 20 minutes. Now, once all team members are satisfied with their answers, it's time to group all the answers into common themes. Now, again, there are different ways to go about this process, but the technique we prefer is for the entire group to work together in silence as they start to move the idea into groups. Now if a team member disagrees with the placement of a post-it note, they can simply move it, and if there's a definite disagreement as to where something belongs, this idea can be duplicated and placed in two different groups. Now, once the team is comfortable all the post-it notes are in the correct group, the next step is to create header cards for each group. Now this is an important steps as their header card should capture the true meaning of the group. To start, teams often come up with a single word to describe the group of post-it notes, such as continuous improvement. They then work to better define this into a complete statement, such as all associates relentlessly attack waste on a daily basis. At this point, these header cards now summarize the vision of the organization and should be shared with all associates in order to gain their buy-in. Now an effective approach is to give associates different colored post-it notes and ask them to add their own thoughts and ideas. Now the last step of the process is for one of the group members, who may be skilled as a word smith, to summarize the header cards into a narrative format, or bullet format, which can then be easily shared with external stake holders in various formats such as brochures and annual reports. Now then, we've covered a lot of information in the last few modules, so to help you pull it all together, we're going to pay our old friends back at Treetop Incorporated a visit in our next module to see how they took this same information and created their own mission and strategic vision. And thanks for watching, and we'll speak to you soon.